Burning in the Skies
by Kcx
Summary: Takes place after the conclusion of Forevermore. With most bots curious about their newest allie's past, Jazz finally gets the nerve to ask; and gets more than he bargained for. Rating may rise later.
1. Part One

**Title:** Burning in the Skies

**Rating:** T for future violence, may rise

**Summary:** Takes place after the conclusion of Forevermore. With most bots curious about their newest allie's past, Jazz finally gets the nerve to ask; and gets more than he bargained for.

**Author's Note:** I started writing this a while back, and couldn't help but post it now. I knew that Forevermore isn't finished yet, but I knew that it wouldn't hurt to start posting this stuff as well, seeing as how I already got, like, nine chapters down. Hope you all enjoy. I really don't have much of a plot for this, and hope to see where it leads. If you want to know when Aquajet shows up, check chapter 12 of Forevermore. The song this story is named after and also the lyrics below is Burning in the Skies by Linkin Park.

**Disclaimer:** I Do not make profit out of this. If I did, Linkin Park would be mine and Transformers would be turned into a porno. xD Aquajet, Blackbird, Raven, and Nightwing belong to me. So do Morphicons.

* * *

><p><em>I Use The Dead Wood To Make A Fire Rise<em>

_The Blood of Innocence Burning in the Skies_

_I Fill My Cup With The Rising of the Sea_

_And Pour It Out In An Ocean of Debris_

_Oh, I'm Swimming in the Smoke_

_Of Bridges I Have Burned_

_So Don't Apologize_

_I'm Loosing What I Don't Deserve_

_What I Don't Deserve_

Silently the blue-green mech sat alone at one of the two tables in the rec room; thanking Primus that everyone else had other things to do that didn't involve talking to him. Blue optics gazed around the room in silence; Skidz and Mudflap had challenged Blackbird and Raven to some sort of two on two battle on some shooting game that hooked onto the TV, which he never got in the first place; some other mechs whose designation didn't come to processor, yet he knew their faces, were sitting at the other table having a chat; everyone else - although few - were standing around either watching the two sets of twins playing their video games or talking to one another. The only one that didn't seem to be having a conversation was himself; then again, Aquajet was content on simply sitting back and watching everyone else busying themselves whistle leaving him the hell alone. AJ was a nice mech like that, wasn't he?

Quietly taking another sip of his mid-grade Energon, Aquajet relaxed a little in his chair, which at first had surprised him; most of the supplies that the Autobots had here at base usually were not from their home world, and instead created from resources found on Planet Earth. He often wondered how they could make things such as chairs and berths their size without screwing up something, but them again, if it was nice enough, AJ _rarely_ complained on it; at least they got anything in the first place. He was used to running around without slag that was his own, and not even big enough for him to use; therefore, he tried not to take for granted anything that he was given here on Earth while the war slowly subsided within itself. Aquajet was strangely proud of being able to say that he had personally helped out in that; although not in it, he at least played his part, and might be mentioned here or there during old war stories creators tell to their young.

The light colored mech was contemplating on weather or not he should simply leave the rec room, seeing as he was just wasting space sitting there and thinking the day away rather than working like he should have been - he didn't yet had an assigned post because he was originally a neutral upon arriving on Earth, and not yet counted as a soldier - when the chair across from him pulled away from the table with an annoying screech only _he _seemed to hear; he looked over with a scowl to see Jazz, happily plopping himself in said chair, looking a little too over-confident in AJ's optics.

"What'chu doin' all over here bein' all alone n' pouty, mech?" asked the silver mech with hints of curiosity and some sort of joy, of which Aquajet didn't know _why_ he heard the later to begin with. "Thought a mech like you might be at th' firin' range at this time ah' day. Why ain't cha?" Jazz took a drink - and actual _drink_, which could have been more counted as a gulp - of the Energon that he had brought to the table with him, positioning himself to face the other mech as he waited for his answer. Seeing as how he knew that he couldn't get away from the conversation, Aquajet turned to face Jazz, placing his own drink over to the side.

"'S too noisy at the range," informed the light colored mech, "'specially when Ironhide's there havin' the time of his life. You'd swear, he's actually still killin' 'cons out there." Jazz laughed at the thought, having to cover the bottom of his drink as he drank it; nearly spitting some on the table.

"Aw, well don' take it personally," said Jazz, placing the cube on the table. "He's like that with _everyone_, trust me."

"What? You mean grouchy, gruff, and 'ill blow your helm off in a spark-beat if you give 'im the wrong look?" retorted Aquajet with a raise optic ridge. Again, Jazz laughed at the comment. The only _good_ thing about talking with Jazz, it seemed - at least to Aquajet - was the fact that he got most all types of jokes and remarks that you put out there.

"Touché," Jazz said with a smirk, taking another drink of Energon before putting it back down on the table as to make sure he wouldn't spill it because of any more of the other mech's comments. "Ya sure ya haven't met anyone 'ere, mech, 'cause I could swear that ya know just about everyone 'nough 'round here, I really could." Aquajet shrugged at that comment.

"Hey, what can I say?" the light-colored mech said, resting his arms on the table in front of him. "I ain't the kinda guy to be all out there and stuff like you; I'd rather sit back and watch everyone else do what they gotta do unless I'm needed, ya know?" Jazz nodded at that.

"Know what'cha mean," he said in a slightly serious tone, now taking the time to look around the room. "Ya know, sometimes ah wish I could do stuff like that; not be noticed or go into my own little corner. Or maybe turn invisible like 'Raj." There was an added chuckle at the last part as he looked back to the mech sitting across from him. "But ah guess ah'd get bored after a while with not gettin' noticed an' all, or at least havin' mech who didn't notice me when ah was down an' all, ya know?"

"Yeah," chuckled the other bot, now taking his turn to examine the other bots around the room, optics landing on the black-painted twins who each sat on one side of the couch playing video games; shouting as they seemed to be winning whatever game they were playing. "But," Aquajet finally sighed as he now looked down to the cube before him, "I guess when ya grow up th' way _I_ did, ya kinda want nothin' more than t' not be stared at all the time."

"Oh yeah?" asked the silver mech curiously, pushing his cube to the side and leaning forever, folding his arms on the table. "And 'ow's that?" Although he had his eye visor on, Aquajet could tell that the other mech was genuily interested in what he was saying. "Ah mean, not t' intrude or anythin'," Jazz went on when the light colored mech stared at him with untrusting optics, "but ya know, we really don't _that_ much 'bout you an' yer three, erm, younglin's and stuff 'side from what you told us you could do… What'd Prime call ya'll again?"

"Morphicons," muttered the other mech, gazing back down to his drink; looking at his small reflection in it as he thought.

"Yeah," breathed the Special Ops mech, seeming still astonished at the fact that there had once been a race of Cybertronians that he knew little to nothing about until AJ and group came to Earth nearly a vorn ago. "An' tha' thing ya can do, turn inta' one ah' them cougars. What can Blackbird turn into? A Panther, right?" Aquajet nodded. "An' Nightwing can turn inta them really nice planes, right? Primus! How'd a feller like yerself an' those younglin's get t' be like one ah' them to be experimented on and all? Ah knew experiments like those were illegal back on Cybertron an' all, and even it were consensual and all…"

"I really don' like t' talk about it, mind you," grumbled Aquajet as Jazz trailed off, not taking his optics off of his drink; what seemed more interesting about it than the conversation, he really didn't know. But it did preserve as a distraction for their current topic.

"Well ah don't mean t' gripe about it er nothin'," said the silver mech innocently, shifting in his chair while raising one arm up so he could rest his chin in his servo, "but'cha know that someone'll ask ya 'bout it sooner 'er later. Will save ya alotta trouble if ya can jus' have me summarize it or somethin'. Or better yet, you could just say slag off and send 'em t' me, right? I wouldn't tell 'em any terrible details that ya'd rather keep t' yerself, promise!"

Aquajet finally caught the nerve to look up at the other mech; although he couldn't see his optics, Jazz's posture showed that he was telling the truth, and was truly interested; relaxed, leaned forward, and a small twitch of a promising smile on his face if Aquajet said that he would tell him his story. The light colored mech stared at the other mech for a long while, noise raging on around them. Finally, Aquajet leaned back in his chair, folding his servos over his mid section.

"Al'ight, al'ight," he sighed, shuttering his optics for a moment before looking back at the other mech. "But ya gotta promise that ya won't go spreading slag 'bout me an' family, got it?" He had never really called the twins - _his_ twins, Blackbird or Raven - and Nightwing family very often, seeing as how he wasn't either of their creators in the first place, nor were the twins and Nightwing related as far as Aquajet actually knew, however he always meant it when he did.

"Yippie!" said Jazz happily, switching to the chair next to Aquajet so he could heard the mech speaking better. Aquajet gave the silver mech a long stare; this was going to be a _long_ story, wasn't it?


	2. Part Two

"If you keep glaring at me like that, one young, your faceplates will keep like that," said the old mech in his raspy voice, however had not looked down even a glance as the sparkling stared at him with a grimacing face; keeping himself busy with his work as his long tail wrapped around the mechling on the floor to keep him in place.

The sparkling in mention glared at the old mech a little longer with scrunched up faceplates before deciding that it wasn't worth it; he liked his face the way it was, thank you very much. Looking down at his play toys - which were an ensemble of colorful blocks along with some with a spherical object with sides that had many Cybertronian letters on it, added with a strange looking stuffed toy that sat up against it's owner, seeming to belong somewhere in a nightmare - he began building meaningless nothing with his blocks, trying to keep himself occupied while his guardian worked on his latest little machine for the Decepticon warlord. The sparkling was actually quite sad that his guardian couldn't play with him; usually, if he were bored, the larger neutral, along with some of his own minicons, would play games with him, the neutral telling him stories.

The sparkling was well into building a tower, then the lab doors opened with a startling hiss, making the little creature squeak and push back into his guardian's tail that wrapped around him in order to try and hide; accidentally knocking over his nice little tower in the process. He never really liked any mech - or femme, in a rare occasion - that came into the lab, which he called his home; mostly because any mech or femme that came into the lab was not as nice as his guardian was to him. The large silver mech did not look up, even when the door closed and footsteps approached him, large strange flat spike-like objects curving on either side of his spin pulling together and apart at the other presence.

"Mindfreak," said a stern British-accented voice, one that the sparkling knew really well, "Lord Megatron has asked me to come check on how your new project is going. Or is it the same as the last time I had came in here." The almost deathly slim 'bot sighed, setting down his tools and turning his helm to look at the one-opticed bot that stood beside his worktable; optics flickering lightly as the flattened spike-like objects shifting on his helm.

"Tell him it'll be done when it's done, Shockwave," said the mech in his slightly high-pitched voice, however a hint of annoyance added with it. The other mech looked at the other mech for a moment, almost seeming to be narrowing his eye if he could. Finally, Shockwave let out a sigh of his own annoyance.

"You know he won't like that answer, Mindfreak," said Shockwave as he turned and began heading for the door. There was a chuckle from the old mech.

"Ah, I know you'll cover for me," Mindfreak said in a happy sounding voice, waving off Shockwave's comment with his servo as he turned back to his work.

There was a soft groan from the retreating mech as the doors opened again, telling the psychopathic mech that he was right. When the doors shut, the large mech hummed in amusement; Shockwave was fun to talk with, however Soundwave was a blast, seeing as how he could toy with the telepath if the third in command ever tried to read his thoughts or feelings; he knew how to make him paranoid in just the right way.

"Mahndfweak?" came a soft voice from down below on the floor, making the large bot stop his work to look down at the sparkling; the little thing was still pushed up against the mech's large tail for comfort, a look of fright and sadness playing both in his optics and true emotions. When 'Freak's expression shifted to happy to one of sad as well, the sparkling went on. "C-can ah cume an' sit up ther' wit'chu? Ah-ah don't wanna be down 'ere all bah mahself." There was an added sniffle at the end of that sentence as well.

The sparkling knew how to play the mech just right; Mindfreak sighed before turning back to his work bench, lazily pushing aside everything that he had on it to one side before leaning down to pick up the sparkling. The mechling eagerly reached up to him as he did so, a clawed hand easily wrapping around the small body as the other grabbed his toys that lay messily on the floor. The desk was as large as a berth, more than likely; easily fitting the sparkling and his toys along with him. However, as he and his toys were sat down, he didn't seem interested in playing; merely grabbing his stuffed toy when it was offered to him and holding it close to him, looking down at the metal that held him. Lanky arms curled around the small body, obviously even too large for the creature that it belonged to. After thunking his peds together as his guardian watched him with slight anticipation, blue optics finally mech ruby ones, however there seemed to be distress in the little sparkling as he looked up.

"Mahndfweak?" asked the little bot slowly, obviously too scared to speak in the first place, leaning back into the servos that were sitting now flatly against his back for support, still cuddling his ever silent toy.

"Yes, AJ?" muttered the old mech quietly and tiredly, shifting in his large chair almost uncomfortably. There was another moment of silence before Aquajet tried to speak.

"Will…. Will sire eva come back tah visit meh again?" he asked with the innocent voice of a child, squirming slightly in his caretakers hold. Mindfreak's brow burrowed at the question, looking almost offended that the sparkling would ask such as question. Sure, his sire hadn't been in to visit for almost three to four deca-cycles, but…

"And what would make you ask such a thing, little one?" asked Mindfreak with curiosity, leaning forward slightly as if he couldn't hear the sparkling quite well. The light colored sparkling sniffled before leaning further back into his guardian's hand.

"W-well, ah heard S-Soundwave sayin' sumethin' 'bout him not likin' me no more 'cause ah'm scrawy an' all and can't do a darned thing a-an' that ah should'a jus' been terminated jus' like mah carrier a-an' that ah -"

"Shhh," said Mindfreak, gently using a pointed finger to rub the back of the sparkling's helm to try and calm him down; he was speaking rapidly, he always did when he was upset, and a single tear had run down his cheek plates as he spoke. "Don't you ever think that, alright? You don't need him, do you? An' I betcha you'll be more rough and tough than he is one day."

"Ya think?" sniffled the young sparkling, curling into the affectionate touches he was receiving; nothing that he would receive from any other Decepticon from onboard the Nemesis.

"Well, a course ah do," said the silver old mech softly, a servo folding softly around the small being in it; sparklings were so fragile, he wondered who could ever hurt such a being like this. Mindfreak scowled, however either Aquajet didn't see it as being directed towards him, or he didn't notice it as he curled up comfortably in the warmth he was in, giving a small yawn as he cuddled with his stuffed toy.

Decepticons. Mindfreak ever wondered why he worked for them in the first place. Oh yeah, that was right; he was _forced_ to. He wanted to slit everyone one of their throats, and he probably could, too, if he had enough time and enough sleep enablers for him to do so. The 'con he probably hated the most was the sparkling's sire; a Destruction built and strong, although sometimes a little stupid and _very_ cold hearted; rarely came to see his sparkling, even if he had the time. He never even care if his bonded - at least he heard that they were bonded; it takes two to create a sparkling, however there was very rarely ever a need to be bonded to create one if you were lucky- and the sparkling's carried had been killed at the hands of Megatron for being believed to have been a traitor; and she was an excellent medic, too. So of course Megatron had to destroy their only _good_ medic the Decepticons had. It was saddening that Aquajet never got to meet her; she was killed within days of AJ's spark separating from hers.

Sighing, the old mech relaxed in his chair, leaning back as he looked to the mechling who was slowly drifting into recharge, although trying to stay awake for the sake of not wanting to recharge just yet. At the sight the large mech chuckled; he was always a bit hard-helmed, like his sire. Taking one last look at the project he was supposed to finish, he shrugged it off; it was late, and Megatron could wait another day before it was finished.

Gathering up the sparkling in one lengthy arm - almost too long for the being it was attached to - as the small being held tightly to his stuffed toy tightly, cuddling up to the large chassis he was placed against. Making sure he remembered his battle axe - which in turn was larger than he was to begin with when ever he was hunched over, which was all the time, seeing as how he always used it as a cane - Mindfreak tuned and made his way to his personal quarters at the back of the lab; locking the doors to his lab so on one would bother him in his sleep. Or rather, bother the sparkling's sleep.

Although small, the sparkling could have a temper that could anger anyone around him, enough to want to lay a servo on him. And Primus _knows_ what Mindfreak would do if he caught that. Probably not something very good, honestly.

* * *

><p>So here we meet Mindfreak, Aquajet's guardian. He's a telepath, too, yes, but also has a little bit more in the abilities section than Soundwave does. What, might you ask, is that? Well, you'll have to find out.<p> 


	3. Part Three

"Mahndfweak, where we goin?" asked the small sparkling with a yawn, shifting into a comfortable position in his guardian's arms; his helm thudding tiredly against the larger chassis that he frequently used as a pillow. The grotesque mech sighed as he hunkered along the hallway silently, the only noise being his battle axe every time the bottom hit the tiled floor.

"Somewhere, young one, you'll see soon," replied Mindfreak tiredly, earning a grumble from the sparkling when he didn't get a direct answer from the older mech. Like Mindfreak would give him one, anyway; he had been comm'ed by Soundwave to come down to his own work station for some reason, and to bring the sparkling, too, although Mindfreak himself already knew why.

There had been rumors going around that Soundwave had been ordered by Megatron himself to start experiments on bots to see if it was liable that they could change one's structure to turn into something they were not; there _had _been a trial where he tested to see if he could change sparklings that were still unborn to come out as Seekers, since they _were_, at the moment, a dying race, however they often failed; ending in the unborn sparkling dying. They had tried on older mechs and femmes before, with minimal luck, and he could only guess that the next stage were sparklings and younglings, and then after that, they would try with unborn again. Why they wanted to try with Aquajet, well, that was a question Mindfreak would have to ask when he got there.

Aquajet whimpered as he scuttled closer to his guardian's chassis, holding onto his stuff toy tightly as the halls began to darken. There was something wrong with this place, he knew, especially since they had to leave the confines of Mindfreak's lab in order to get to it. It was one thing for other bots to come to the lab, because it belonged to Mindfreak and therefore the mech could force anyone out that he did not like, however going somewhere _else_ just seemed out of the question. The scuttling closer was rewarded with the arm around him being wrapped tighter, making him being held tighter to the chassis he always used as a pillow. And he didn't mind that; he would rather feel protected than feel out in the open the way he did.

Finally, Aquajet guessed, they reached their destination; Mindfreak stopped at a door, punching in a code that he seemed to know all too well instead of asking to be invited in that AJ knew you were supposed to do. Then again, he could have been expected here, or rather he had just came by this place so many times he was given a door code. Mindfreak often left the sparkling in his lab with his two bird-like minicons, Fraxure and Forest, often, possibly not wanting the little being to see the harshness of the world outside. Mindfreak was possibly the only mech, besides a few others, who deemed him as smart; often having him help build things and always telling him stories of things that happened outside that the lab he usually spent most of his time in.

Aquajet knew a lot about the war; he knew who Megatron was, even though he had never met the mech, and a lot of the rising "stars" in the Decepticon army. The war hadn't been going on for too long, said Mindfreak; only about a few vorns, however the planet was nearly in shambles because of everything that was happening. He also knew who Optimus Prime was; one of the youngest Primes in the history of Cybertron, said Mindfreak, and a brave one at that. Said that he used to be a Data Clerk and all and he was chosen by the high council or something of the sort to become a Prime. Mindfreak always told him of great things Optimus Prime had done, and where both he and Megatron had come from; rumors had it that they were brothers, however Mindfreak was unsure.

Being a neutral, Mindfreak didn't really take sides; he had more been forced, he said, to work for the Decepticons and build them things to help them win. His carrier had been a neutral, Mindfreak had said when telling Aquajet what his parents were like since his sire was never around and his carrier was dead because Megatron had thought that she was a spy and soon after having Aquajet - his sire had made a deal that he would watch the femme, in return for Megatron being able to question her after she had the sparkling, believe it or not - and had bluntly killed her off without a second glance because he thought that she was lying. Meaning Aquajet had never met his carrier, however he knew a lot about her from what Mindfreak in turn knew about her.

He said that she was nice, and really pretty, too. And apparently, she used those looks to sway mechs to do things for her that she was unable to do or she simply did not want to do. She was not a whore, she just simply knew how to get her way for nothing in return for the other bots that helped her. Which was how she met Aquajet's sire; a brute Desructicon, having the mental compactiy of a sparkling, so said Mindfreak, and not very bright when he needed to be, usually always the one to get hurt every battle he was in, making in a great frontliner in the terms of he made a great shield. Aquajet always giggled at that; a Cybertronian shield sounded like something fun to have.

It was possibly the only reason that Aquajet was born was because his sire was persistent with his mother, Amri, and after several months, she finally gave into his stupidity because he had been trying to long; longer than most mechs in the Decepticon army, seeing as many had got their way by force. It was after probably the third time they met when Amri found out that she was carrying; she, of course, was overjoyed, while his sire merely was suspicious; she still used charms on mechs to get them to help her with things, even though they got nothing in return, she promised. Soon, Aquajet was born and, well, you get the rest up until the next point.

Seeing as how Decepticons rarely cared for one another, their young was the same; Aquajet was small when he was born, however no matter how many times his sire was told that he would turn out to be something, the mech merely pushed him aside, only needing him to show off. Leaving him in different hands was common until Mindfreak came along. He was probably the only one to _try_ and keep the little bugger, seeing as how often he would screech or bite at anyone he truly did not like. He seemed to rather take a shine to Mindfreak more than anyone else who was forced to watch him; he had already gotten on Shockwave's bad side on numerous occasions, and it was a miracle that Soundwave hadn't dismangled the poor child's body for spared parts.

If that was the case, Primus only knew what Soundwave had in store for him now.

Mindfreak quietly stepped in when the doors open, making sure that his tail had followed him in before the door shut on it; that would have been terribly painful. The lab that belonged to Shockwave was far cleaner than that of Mindfreak's, Aquajet realized as he looked over his guardian's arm and around the clean area. There wasn't as much slag on the tables, and there even seemed to be a few berths near the back of the room, with weird objects hanging above them and all around them. Feeling frightened by every tool that he saw, Aquajet instantly huddled closer to the old mech's chassis, receiving a gentle rub on his helm from one of the pointed fingers. Becoming brave again, Aquajet again leaned over his guardian's arm, now seeing as better view of the lab.

At a near work table, a large silver mech - more of a purer looking silver than Mindfreak was - was hunched over, a large bird-like creature - the same as Fraxure and Forest, Aquajet realized, just with different colors - curled up into a ball in recharge. However, when Mindfreak silently made his way towards the table, the bird-like creature lifted it's head, before giving a hiss-like sound and with swift movements bounded off the table, and out of Aquajet's eye sight. The other mech didn't even look up; still scribbling what ever it was that he was scribbling on some Datapad.

"You called, Soundwave?" asked Mindfreak in his raspy voice, turning to pull up a chair and set it near one of the table; easily sitting down on it as he rested his battle axe against the table. Finally the other mech stopped what he was doing and looked up; taking in account the sparkling that the larger mech cradled protectively in his lanky arm.

"Affirmative," said the strange mech in a robotic voice, making Aquajet lean over his holder's arm, curious as to why he sounded so different; many 'bots he had encountered had accents, yes, but none had never sounded like _this_. Soundwave must have noticed the sparkling watching - that's what Aquajet had guessed; he had no knowledge of the mech, mostly because he rarely ever talked to him, and he rarely ever remembered the mech watching him when he was younger except for what Mindfreak told him - because Soundwave was looking at him, at least it looked like so, and quickly the sparkling sat back in his guardian's grasp, watching the mech wearily.

"And, why, may I ask," asked Mindfreak in his usual annoyed tone when he didn't like something another mech had him do, "did I have to bring _him_ along?" Aquajet instantly realized that Mindfreak was talking about him, even though Mindfreak was doing his best not to use his designation. He _was_ the only one to be brought anywhere, as far as he could see, besides that strange bird that had scattered off somewhere when Mindfreak had been approaching the table. Where did it go, anyway?

"Answer: he is an excellent candidate for one of my new… experiments," stated Soundwave in his drone like voice. Instantly Aquajet whimpered quietly, trying to get further back into his guardian's arm; he knew what an experiment was, seeing as how he often helped Mindfreak with them from time to time if they were safe, however most of the experiments he had witnessed weren't sparkling friendly. His whimper must have been heard, at least by his gaurdian, for the large mech seemed to tighten his hold on the sparkling as best as he could without hurting him.

"And what experiment would _that_ be?" spat the old mech, showing his dentals in angered defense. Soundwave seemed to take a note at the action, before scoffing. At least, that's what Aquajet though it to be; he didn't know weather Soundwave could really scoff or not.

"Rude gesture: irrelevant," he droned out, turning in his chair to grab a Datapad with too many scribbles and drawings for Aquajet to make his helm spin. "Response: read these. Megatron: wished myself to start an experiment, and thought Aquajet to be perfect candidate for trial on sparklings."

"Oh, over my dead body," snapped Mindfreak, turning so that his arm was well blocking the view of the sparkling from Soundwave. "Why can't'chu go find some _other _sparklings to test your _slag_ on, huh? I'm sure Megatron won't give a frag if you snuck into th' youth sector and _steal_ some." Mindfreak truly did not want the Decepticon third in command to go and _steal_ sparklings that didn't have anywhere else to go; but what was he supposed to do when Aquajet trusted him to not let anything bad happen to him, let him get hurt by the telepath?

"Compromise: useless," stated the telepath as he gestured the Datapad over to Mindfreak again, obviously asking him to read it; Soundwave wasn't the only one who could read thoughts and feelings.

With a growl, Mindfreak reached his far servo over and snatched the Datapad away, still not showing the sparkling to the other mech. Aquajet looked up at him curiously as he read it; Soundwave sitting quietly as Mindfreak did so. Usually, any Datapad that the old mech had while Aquajet was in his arms - while the sparkling was awake - was a story he was reading to the sparkling, not something that Mindfreak didn't think he would not understand, or something that was supposed to be bad. Minutes passed by, before Mindfreak snarled and tossed the Datapad on the table; a big clattering sound following as many other objects were either pushed aside or pushed off of the table in the process.

"Creating new little creatures for the army, huh?" snarled Mindfreak as he regarded Soundwave with a scowl. "You _know_ you can't re-create a creature's protoform, much less a Sparklings; what the frag is Megatron thinking? And different sorts of animals, too! Primus _knows_ no one will be able to stand _those_ types of organic animals, much less anything else running around here. What the frag is Megatron thinking? That you can create an army like that?"

"Conclusion: either you give up the Sparkling, or Megatron will take him by force," Soundwave replied evenly. Mindfreak growled.

Although he knew better than to challenge Megatron, he knew that he could take him on; he _wa_s older and more wise, obviously, however Megatron had more lackeys by his side; even though it was obvious that Starscream, their young second in command, detested anything that was Megatron to begin with. At least it was to Mindfreak; he could literally feel the bad vibes coming from the other mech, as it was noticeable that Soundwave could as well. He knew Soundwave wouldn't do anything to harm the sparkling in any terrible way; it was true that the telepath did have a small dislike for the sparkling because of how noisy and snappish he was, but aside from Mindfreak, Soundwave was the only one who was willing to watch him, and possibly the only other mech that Aquajet did not try and bite when he was still a newborn and a yearling. [Minus the facts that he was almost torn apart a couple of times when Aquajet wanted his guardian and didn't want to be with Soundwave.]

Mindfreak sighed heavily; noticed by the sparkling in his arm, who looked at him with a troubled expression, as if the worry on his gaurdian's expression was easily seen. This was going to be a terrible choice, wasn't it?

* * *

><p>Oh no, what is Soundwave planning? We also learn about Aquajet's creators. His carrier is dead, yes, and we dunno where his sire is, sadly.<p> 


	4. Part Four

Aquajet curled closer to his guardian's chassis, stirring from his recharge. Yawning, the sparkling shifted until he was wobbly sitting up, rubbing his optics as he tried to wake up from his slumber. There was a purring like sound to his other side - the one opposite Mindfreak was curled at - and Aquajet instantly realized it as being Forest; Fraxure would _never_ stir so low as to purring, or anything of the sorts. And the sparkling was right about who it was, too; there was a nuzzle from a sharp but gentle beak against his cheek, the offender obviously trying to get him back into recharge without any fuss. Giggling, Aquajet removed his servos from his optics and playfully pushed the bird-like creature away, finding fun in this game, or just really ticklish by the attack.

"Quite it," he said with a large grin, having to squint to look at the smaller bird in the darkness.

Forest was curled up into a ball next to the sparkling, Fraxure most likely hiding under the berth and Summit lying somewhere around the quarters; he was too big to fit on the berth without being at the foot, and he didn't like sleeping there. Again Forest tried to soothe the sparkling into recharge so his master would not wake up; making that same purring-like noise - it sounded like purring with some sort of clicking added along with it - as he nuzzled the sparkling's cheek as he quietly stood up and tried to circle around the sparkling to make some sort of fort, as if it would help any if he did so. This only made the giggling worse, Aquajet obviously thinking of it as some sort of game, or it really bothering him so much, that the touches felt like tickles. He was a weird kid sometimes.

"Go back into recharge," came a raspy voice; Forest instantly stopping his movements and dropped back onto the berth while still wrapped around the sparkling as if some sort of shield, as if Mindfreak were really speaking to him rather than the sparkling.

Aquajet merely moved and peeked over the bird like creature; his Guardian hadn't moved, his helm still resting on his wrists as he had been, optics offlined. Pouting, Aquajet silently and swiftly climbed over Forest, the minicon doing nothing to stop the sparkling in the process. Thumping on his aft slightly, the little mechling turned to his servos and knee joints and simply crawling over the sheets and blankets towards the large mech's helm. Once arrived - he was surprised that Mindfreak didn't wake up, because the sheets were making so much noise when he crawled across them - Aquajet sighed and relaxed his body back on his legs, aft touching heels. He watched the so called sleeping mech for a moment, before curling a servo into a fist and gently knocking on his facial plates, in between the nose and the mouth. After a moment, ruby optics onlined, looking more tired than they should.

"What's the matter little one?" asked the same raspy voice, the large mech shifting so that he could curl an arm around the mechling and pull him closer; Forest making that same noise he had been to the sparkling as he moved quietly to the end of the berth, lying on Mindfreak's peds and presumably drifting back into recharge. "Did you have another nightmare, or can you simply not sleep?" asked Mindfreak as Aquajet relaxed against the large mech's neck; using his chin as a comfortable pillow.

"No," sighed the sparkling. "I was jus'…. Thinkin', is all." There was a moment of silence as Mindfreak gently rubbed the back of the mechling's helm with a single digit, Aquajet nearly falling back into recharge had it been for the fact that he didn't want to do such a thing just yet.

"Thinkin' 'bout what?" Mindfreak finally asked, seeing as how the sparkling was not going back into recharge anytime soon. That, and hopefully talking would bore him enough to send him back into recharge before dawn around about.

The large mech knew that he would regret it in the morning when he was fussy and cranky and all that jazz. And he would hate the sparkling being that way, too. Aquajet shifted, and would have been silent about it if it hadn't been for the sheets that they were sitting on. He knew that his guardian was expecting an answer, and would not be taking "Nothing" as one of them. Making sure his helm was comfortable against the larger mech's chin, the sparkling spoke softly, as if any louder and someone else _other_ than Mindfreak might hear him.

"Wha' wer'…. Wha' wer' yew n' mithter Soun'wave talkin' 'bout earlier when we went t' visit?" asked the sparkling cautiously. "'C-cause, I know yew was talkin' 'bout me n' all, an' ya wouldn' tell me nuthin' 'bout it since we got back hea."

Mindfreak had dreaded this question; wanting not to answer the sparkling even though he had every right to, seeing as how he was looking for a truthful response from him. And, having the sparkling's full trust and not wanting to loose it like everyone else had, Mindfreak felt all obligation to tell him. Gently, the usually quick tempered 'bot with a wrath to die for, Mindfreak picked up Aquajet with a single servo, resting him next to his helm to where the sparkling could see his optics, making sure to cover him up with part of the large blanket so he wouldn't freeze. Thinking that this was one of Mindfreak's ways of trying to put him back into recharge without getting an answer from him, Aquajet opened his mouth to protest with a crinkled nose plate, however Mindfreak quickly silenced him with a simple shush.

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that question," said Mindfreak quietly, gently laying a large servo over the sparkling's body; hw could easily fit over the sparkling completely in his servo without worry, however Mindfreak did not feel like suffocating his adopted charge at the moment. "I've told you about the war and all, and how the Decepticons are taking great lengths in order to win this war early, right?" asked Mindfreak slowly. His answer was an eager nod from the sparkling, obviously wanting to hear the story he was about to be told; he was a smart mechling, and liked to learn, after all. "Well, they've just went a further step, you see," said the silver mech slowly, although he knew the sparkling was not at all stupid; why would he be explaining this to him in the first place if he was? "And they're trying to, erm, _advance_ some Cybertronians here and -"

"What'd ya mean by advance?" Aquajet asked curiously, trying to cock his helm with no luck, due to the fact that he was laying on his side to begin with.

"Erm, like," thought aloud Mindfreak, before finding the right words. He put a finger to his lips for a moment, tapping them before seeming to find the right explanation. "You know how I have t' upgrade Fraxure and Forest sometimes, because they outgrow their old processors and forms?" Aquajet nodded. "Well, it's kinda like that, but a whole lot more. Like, if I upgraded Fraxure a whole lot in one day when he didn't need it. You get where I'm going?"

"Uh-huh," Aquajet said nearly mindlessly, so into the story he was being told before he had to go back into recharge.

"Well, that's what they're doin', pretty much," croaked the old mech. "And you see here; Shockwave asked that you be one of the, erm, first test subjects in this, t' make you better and faster and stronger an' all. He said it was because you were strong and all, and because your sire had some sort of strong bloodline that made you a good candidate."

"Well, why can't I, then?" asked the sparkling, shifting onto an elbow so he could finally cock his helm downwards; voice and expression filled with so much childhood innocence that only Mindfreak could adore without having to cover it up. "If ah'm so special, why can't ah' do it, huh?" He sounded like he was whining somewhat, even though he was trying to hide it.

"Because, little one," Mindfreak said in a soft voice, a large servo going around to cup the back of the sparkling's helm, "I've seen these types of things go through before, and a lot of innocent 'bots have gotten terrible hurt or _killed_ because of it. And I don't wanna see _you_ go through it, ya here?"

That was probably half the truth, the other half being that Mindfreak himself couldn't go through with it, nor could he live with himself if anything happened to the small sparkling that he had ended up calling his own. He knew he was too fraggin' old t' have one of his own, mindless that he wasn't as attractive as some out there. Blue optics watched that strange looking face for a moment, as if contemplating. And that was one thing Mindfreak actually _liked_ about Aquajet; the sparkling was the only one, besides his minicons, who didn't do a double take on him or simply stare at the floor all the time, because, as stated earlier, he wasn't the most attractive of mechs. Finally facial plates scrunched up on the young sparkling.

"Bu' yew said tha' I was smart 'nough t' make mah own descions," whined the mechling, however much leaning back into the simple touch that Mindfreak was still giving him that he didn't want to do. "Yew said tha' ah was grown up enough an' -"

"But not enough little one," Mindfreak spoke softly; feeling sadness and anger waver off of the sparkling. The one bad thing about feeling other's emotions, thought Mindfreak, was that you could feel all of what others were feeling at the time like some sort of power rush, even without wanting to.

"Well, when'll _I_ be?" whined the sparkling, now pouting in the darkness of the room as he curled back further into the large servo that held him up. "An' 'ow yew know tha-tha' Soun'wave'll hur' me, anyhow? Yew said yerself tha' he was good at re-buildin' an' not causin' any problems when fixin' somebody up an' all."

"Yes, well," sighed Mindfreak, feeling the need to not give up even though the sparkling had a good point. He had always told the sparkling to respect the strange mech because he had a really good reputation, and was smart when it came to a lot of things. That didn't mean that he trusted him with his sparkling, though. Sighing, Mindfreak said, "I just don't know… How you'd be able handle it, little one."

Instantly Aquajet's expression went soft, seeing his guardian's worry through the dim light. And then, just as instantly, the sparkling pushed himself forward, off of the larger servo he had been using to prop himself up, and scurried on his servos and knee joints until he reached the large mech's face. Pushing up to where he was know kneeling in front of the mechs facial plates, the sparkling wrapped his arms around his guardian's faceplates as best as he could, rubbing his face against the others slightly as he offlined his optics. He was met with a servo that covered him up completely, hiding him from view and protecting him from anything that came into view. Aquajet knew the real words that Mindfreak had spoke just then, knowing the older mech all too well; his Guardian didn't know how _he_ could handle seeing his charge being hurt. Mindfreak had always told him that if it weren't for him, he probably would have given up long ago when he was forced to join the Decepticons, and simply be put offline permanently.

The saddest thing was that Aquajet believed that statement, because he knew that Mindfreak had been speaking the truth.

"Don't worry, little one," came the soft voice of his guardian as he slowly fell back into recharge in the darkness of the silver mech's protection, "I'll always be here for you, weather you see me or not. I promise I'll protect you as best as I can. And if I should fail, well, then you have all the more right to hate me until the day you die."

Like Aquajet ever could.

_And I Feel The Faint Morning Light_

_Filled With Hope 'Cause_

_You're Here in My Life_

* * *

><p>Daw, fluff moment. The song is All That You Are by The Goo Goo Dolls.<p> 


	5. Part Five

The place was cold and dark, and Aquajet did _not_ like it one bit. Where was his guardian? Why wasn't he here with him, keeping him warm? He hadn't remembered much from his guardian waking him up that morning; just that Mindfreak said that they were going to go somewhere. The sparkling had, of course, fallen back asleep on the way there, having had enough Energon that morning to do so. Of course he was fully awake now, unknown as to what he was sitting on, nor where he was. Pulling up his knees so that he could hold them close, the sparkling whimpered, setting his chin on his knee joints. Where was Fraxure and Forest and Summit? Why was he all alone and cold? Where was he? How come he couldn't see anyone? Unable to hold it back any longer, Aquajet pushed his face into his legs, hiding it from view, and began quietly sobbing; hoping that Mindfreak would suddenly rush in and hold him close, tell him that everything was alright and take him back to his safe haven.

**XXX**

"You won't be able to protect him forever, Mindfreak," came the droned voice of Soundwave as he scuttled to grab a Datapad from a nearby table. Both could feel the saddened and frightened emotions emitting from the sparkling in the next room; how he wanted out _now_ and wanted to be back somewhere safe. Mindfreak merely snarling at the telepath.

It had been that morning that he had comm'ed the telepath saying that he would be unable to take the sparkling in to him. Why? Because he didn't want to harm the mechling any more than he would. But Soundwave wouldn't take no for an answer. He had threatened to go to Megatron about this, and Mindfreak knew that he would, seeing as how he was like the warlords pet and all; and there would be worse consequences then death if he hadn't obliged to what was going on. The whole morning he had been worrying and raving, and the thoughts of what might happen to the sparkling if he said no were terrible. He had paced around the lab enough to wake the slumbering sparkling, and nearly scare him because Mindfreak had been acting stranger than normal. Finally the old mech had decided: at least go to Soundwave's lab and make some sort of compromise. What kind of compromise? Well, Mindfreak himself didn't even know that.

But now, the sparkling sat cold and alone in another room, having woken up there alone and wanting some comfort. Mindfreak had tried so desperately to get Soundwave to simply let him in there and let him comfort him; but Soundwave insisted that not comforting him and simply leaving him there to work out his own fears rather than babying him. What else was Mindfreak supposed to do? Simply leave him there to shiver and shake in the darkness? His own spark shank in it's chamber just _thinking_ about it.

"Why can't I just sit in there with him for a little while?" asked Mindfreak, trying to hold back the distress in his voice; mindless that he was blocking any feelings he had at the moment from the telepath as well. Soundwave turned, staring at the old mech for a moment, obviously regarding him.

"Counter: he'll be alone longer during testing," said the other mech, before turning and going back to what he had been doing before. Mindfreak had to hold back the urge to simply rip the mech limb from limb and tear everything from his body and use it for spare parts.

And he wouldn't be afraid to do it, either.

**XXX**

Aquajet gasped as the door to the room he was in; making him look up from his legs to see who was entering the room. His face was Engergon-stained, he had been crying so much. It was too dark to tell who it was, however the outline made him realize that it _wasn't_ Mindfreak. The figure moved into the room, the door sliding closed behind it. Aquajet could hear the footsteps moving around to one side of the room, and the sparkling froze, hoping that it wasn't coming towards him. And they weren't; suddenly the lights turned on in a flicker, too bright for his optics. The sparkling whined and hid his face back into his legs, not wanting to see the intruder that had most likely brought him in here in the first place. Aquajet made sure to stay as quiet as he could, listening as the footsteps now finally began to move to him now, to where ever it was that he was sitting. Was this person bad? Was he going to get hurt? He didn't want to know how or why; all he wanted was Mindfreak.

"Order: look up, there is no use in hiding like that," droned a voice that Aquajet instantly recognized.

Whimpering, the sparkling slowly lifted his head, dimming his optics a little bit as he tried to see past the bright light. As his optics got used to them, he finally saw the mech that had been talking to him: Soundwave was standing next to him, looking down at him. Aquajet also realized that he was in some operation room, and that he was sitting on a med berth, so slick and clean one could go skating on it. There was no sides so you wouldn't fall off if you were going too fast, of course, so you would most likely hurt yourself. Whimpering some more, Aquajet cautiously looked back up at the emotionless-looking mech.

"W-where's Mahndfweak?" sniffled and stuttered the sparkling, looking more afraid than he should have been. Wasn't Mindfreak the one who said you shouldn't be afraid, because terrible mechs could smell fear? Wasn't Soundwave one of those terrible mechs? Mindfreak had told him that Soundwave was okay, and that he was nice and all when he wanted to be, although he didn't believe one bit of that; he could feel emotions like Mindfreak, couldn't he?

"Not here," droned Soundwave, shifting on his peds. Aquajet noticed that he was holding some sort of Datapad, and he couldn't help but wonder what was on it. "Order: quite sniveling. Does not help your case. Inform: if you really want to get out of here, then quite sniveling and do as I say. If you don't, then you will be unable to see Mindfreak again."

Aquajet had to hold back a whimper at the thought of being unable to see his guardian again. What was going on? And what was Soundwave going to do to him? Was it what Mindfreak had told him about last night, when he couldn't sleep? Wasn't he supposed to protect him? Then again, Aquajet _had wanted to try and do this, and Mindfreak said that he wouldn't let anyone hurt him. If he didn't say no to trying this, would it end up so bad?_


	6. Part Six

The pain. The pain was _any_thing but pain_less_. It was more like some agonizing torture, something that no one should have ever felt to begin with. It was almost like a pain meant for the gods, however was rejected and therefore sent to those mortals that the gods did not favor. And to Aquajet, that almost made sense to him; that he was unwanted, and didn't belong here, that he wasn't meant to belong in the world of the living and therefore he was given the God's pain. But those mortals that did this to him did not want him to die just yet, so they could keep harming him in this way while making sure to keep his life. It was torture, and the kind that no one should ever have to go through, in all honesty, no matter how much he wished that it was on someone else. He sometimes felt bad in wishing the pain he felt on someone else; it was unbearable to even him, and he thought himself as a strong mech.

He blamed Soundwave for all of this; he wanted to kill the mech sometimes, however knew better than that; he knew that he was on a short leash with the mech, and knew that he could end his life at any given moment, and Aquajet wasn't going to give up just yet. He wanted to _live_, wanted to see the outside world before he left the land of the living just yet; see stuff that he never go to see. He was hard headed like that, but Pit, he liked being that way; hard headed and not wanting to give up. He at least wanted to knock some helms in before he left, you know?

The darkness he was in was like a never ending void; something he couldn't escape from or ever know where he was. He wished that he had some sort of knowledge of what was going on, even though he knew already what was happening; he was knocked out by some anesthetics, even though he could feel the pain as if he were awake. They just didn't want him to be awake and thrashing and cursing and the likes, nor did they want to hear his agonizing screams. Maybe because they had heard everything so long that they just sought all of these things as an annoyance, or simply they just didn't want to hear it at all. Soundwave could hear all of this, he was sure; he was a telepath, after all, and could possibly hear everything that he was thinking. The saddest thing was that Aquajet _hoped_ that he was; that maybe for once he would feel sorry for the mech being worked on.

But that was only a hope; a hope that would never become real.

**XXX**

The light colored mech woke up with a gasp from his intakes; his spark beating harder than it should have been. His limbs were aching, and he could have sworn that he had been bleeding Energon for an unknown amount of time. There might have been cuts here and there on his frame, and would have moved to check had it been for the fact that he couldn't feel his body enough in order to make it move the way he wanted them to. It was like someone had paralyzed him for the Pit of it, and just wanted to watch him suffer. As always. And just as he thought, he heard nothing around him except for the noise of humming machines, most likely taking in data on him during the process and after it, like now, as he lay awake, numb and hurting with no one there to comfort him.

The light above him was too bright, nearly blinding him from the moment he jumped awake to see its glaring intensity. After a moment of trying to get used to the shimmering light above him, everything came into view as his optics adjusted to the lighting. He was right about what he had been thinking; he was in a room filled with machines that he was hooked up to. He was used to these kinds of things; had been for about eight or nine vorns now, since he was a three vorn old sparkling. Why did he ever have to go along with this slag? Oh, that was right; Mindfreak. Wasn't it him that they were going to hurt worse if he declined anything that they wanted to do to him. He was only protecting his guardian; that, and they would do worse to him if he said no, and still force him to do these procedures. Better to take the easy way out than simply say no, right?

He never got to see Mindfreak much now, anyways; the most he got to see was Forest or Fraxure to keep him company, and that was just for a little while. Probably because everyone else was paranoid in that they were some sort of spies for some other cause. They were only minibots; what could _they_ do? Well, seeing how Lazerbeak or Frenzy or Ravage and what they could do would defiantly paranoi someone. They were smart as frag, Aquajet had to admit, but even Forest and Fraxure didn't add up to them. They were as dumb as a drone, really, they were. But they kept you company; Forest a lot kinder than his brother, however they still kept you enough company for a little while not to get bored or anything. They were nice once you got to know them, really.

Sighing, the light colored bot relaxed; it wasn't like they were coming to get him any time soon. They usually left him to lie there on that examining table, as if they didn't know what to do with him, and simply left him there hurt and unmoving until they could find him a place to stay. As if he would try to run off, anyways. He knew that he would be caught anyway. Plus, with Mindfreak still around, it wasn't as if he would leave the old mech here to die. And it wasn't like he could take his guardian with him; he was slow, if anything, and he could never bear the feeling of having to leave the old mech behind to take the consequences of his charge running away.

He was the old mech's world, he knew it. From the beginning, he only really remembered the old mech taking care of him. He couldn't remember his sire at all, and he knew his carrier was with the Matrix now, bless her spark. Mindfreak was probably the only family he had, aside from the old mech's minibots; they were like his pets, though, but still, they were family. He never wished he had anything else; others were probably much poorer off than he was. He knew of the Youth Sector and how many sparklings and younglings were sent there during the start of the war and even now. He was lucky he even knew his parents, or even had someone to take care of him in the first place. Sure, he would have liked a better life than _this_. If he hadn't known all the mech he'd 've known, too, of course.

Guess life just has a way of screwin' ya over and makin' ya want to keep it that way, huh?


	7. Part Seven

It wasn't like the testing was _all_ that bad; you got changes in your appearance, and usually they didn't test on you _every_ day. For Aquajet, he got both. One of the things that changed on him was his arms; he grew blade-like objects off of them, or rather, they might have put them on there because of what ever he got to turn into. They couldn't test on him for only but once every two or three cycles because they thought that it would "ruin his frame" or something. Just as long as they didn't hit his spark, right? Being twelve years old in human years, he was pretty smart with that slag. He knew more of what the grown ups were talking about and he didn't feel so stupid. Then again, they always thought that he was, but he never tried to correct them; better let them believe what they want to, otherwise that would get him in a huge amount of trouble that he didn't want.

Another good thing about being twelve; he knew how to throw temper tantrums better. He knew how to get on other's nerves, too, and just enough not to get slapped or hit or punished. Just the right way to _get_ his way. And what did he usually throw a fit for? Well, to get out of the place Soundwave always kept him in, and often to go see Mindfreak. As long as they weren't planning on testing on him that day or the next, or hadn't the day before - how strange, right? - then they were alright with him goin. Just as long as he didn't travel out of course, and he didn't wonder anywhere else on board the Nemesis. Which he was alright with; like _wanted_ to go anywhere else.

He knew the way to Mindfreak's lab by heart now that he was old enough; no one else felt like watching him anymore, and would know if he went out of line. [He was sure that they had cameras installed almost _everywhere_, as if they were expecting him to do something terrible.] He knew to stay quiet, too, for he didn't want anybody to get pissed off at him for any reason, and was too small to stand up for himself at the moment. Mindfreak said he might grow more before he got his new frame, but he doubted that; his spark was probably too small for anything bigger than the frame he had now, much less a bigger one. It was probably from too much testing on him, even though they promised to avoid his spark at all costs. They'd probably kill him off at the first chance they got, honestly.

Aquajet reached his guardian's lab easily, as stated before; stopping in front of the doors for a moment, as if contemplating if he should go in or not. Not that Mindfreak wouldn't want him in. He was usually welcomed with open arms, and if anything more, a glomp from Forest and Summit. So, tiptoeing - everything still seemed so high for him - he reached up to the keypad for the lab doors - Mindfreak had given the pass to him in case he wanted to come in and visit any time, which was what he liked about the old mech - and Aquajet remembered it by spark. As he dropped down to his peds, the doors slid open with a hiss, as usual, and the youngling was quick to rush in before the doors closed, excited.

The lab was just as how he remembered it; an unorderly mess, with things lying every which way, and he was sure that it had been this way since he was a small sparkling. And, of course, there was Mindfreak; his back to the door as he worked on some other experiment for Primus knows what. Around his neck hung Forest like some sort of Faux fur, happily taking a nap on his creator's shoulders. Fraxure lay tangled in his master's tail, seeing as how his brother had stolen the only other spot that there was to take a nap. Summit lay at his master's feet like a good wolf-bot, snoring slightly.

However, when AJ dared to take a step forward, thinking that his guardian knew that he was there, Summit instantly lifted his helm and growled in a threatening way, making his two bird-like brothers raise their helms as well. However, upon realizing who it was, Summit instantly gave a happy whine and jolted out from under the table, shaking it slightly; Forest followed, nearly flipping onto the ground and most likely breaking something as he launched himself at the youngling with a clicking sound. Mindfreak seemed to have noticed their absence as Fraxure merely lifted his helm, thumping his tail on the ground slightly in welcome to the youngling.

"Well look who came for a visit," said Mindfreak in his ever so kind yet raspy voice as Aquajet knelt down and began petting the canine-like minibot, Forest launching onto his bent back strut and wrapping himself - loosely - around the younglings neck, nuzzling and making him laugh. "My, did you grow a few inches?"

"I wish," snorted Aquajet, looking up so see that Mindfreak had turned in his chair and was smiling down at him. "Prolly jus' the glimmer my helm, is all," Aquajet said, tapping the top of his helm with a knuckle.

"Highly unlikely," laughed Mindfreak; grasping his battle axe as he feebly tried to stand up, gaining success easily. Fraxure instantly gave an annoyed hiss as scattered away, obviously unhappy that his sleeping place had been disturbed. "You've also seemed to have gained some bulk on you, too," said Mindfreak as he walked over to the youngling. Instantly Summit lowered his helm and backed away in submission, Forest merely wagging his tail even more and raising up his helm as if expecting to be petted.

"Yeah, well, I guess I kin'a need it," Aquajet shrugged as he stood up, trying to keep his own balance as Forest wound his way around the youngling's shoulders; Forest was bigger than he looked, and Aquajet wondered how Mindfreak would ever stand both he and Fraxure hanging around on his shoulders all the time like some sort of parrots.

Right when the youngling spoke, Mindfreak stopped in front of his charge, looking at the smaller bot with a thoughtful look. Aquajet met his optics, however it seemed as if his guardian were looking out into space rather than at him. That's what the large mech often did when he was in thought; he looked as if he were staring at nothing, and often went unmoving. It felt strange, as if he were looking through you or something, and unnerved a whole lot of other mechs. Aquajet was almost used to it, now, though. At least he knew Mindfreak wasn't trying to read anything of his. Finally, after a moment, a servo gently raised and was placed on the youngling's helm, as if trying to relax him.

"You've grown so much, you know that?" rasped the old mech, gently rubbing the top of his helm in comfort. Before Aquajet could speak, Mindfreak shushed him and said, "I almost wish there was more for you, really. You know, I'm almost contemplating on getting you out of here and all and -"

"But you _can't_, Mindfreak!" whined the youngling, his mood instantly changing from relaxed to frightened and worried. "They'll catch you! You can't! You'll end up dead and then what'll happen? What if I'm stuck all alone and then they start doin' _more_ terrible things and then -?"

"Shush, little one," said Mindfreak softly, pulling the youngling into an embrace; Forest instantly jumping off of the youngling's shoulders and onto the floor at their peds. "I'd never leave you, little one, never. And besides, like they could ever find us if we were to escape. I'd never let them hurt you ever again, you got that?"

Aquajet merely whined into his guardian's stomach plates, trying to hold back the crying that taunted to come out against his will. Why did his life have to be like such slag? Oh yeah, that was right; the 'Cons were slag. And they'd do anything to win.


	8. Part Eight

Seven months. Seven months and it was starting to get on his nerves. Seven months of not being able to see his guardian. It kind of agitated him. Why was he being cooped up like a bird of some sort, only allowed to be set free when he made enough noise or they felt like doing something _else_ on him that was grueling and painful. It kind of pissed him off, really. But then again, who wouldn't be pissed off at this sort of thing? He _was_ some sort of play thing for the Decepticons, and they no longer cared how he was or what happened to him, just as long as he was safe and sound for those "procedures"; procedures that slowly changed his proto form _and_ alternative mode so that he could then transform into something that he wasn't. It almost made him sick that he ever wanted to go along with this thing in the first place; it hurt like hell and he could never transform into what ever he was supposed to transform into to see what it looked like. Then again, he could have without ever knowing it, Soundwave informing that he could do so because his current standards _in_ that alt mode were, well, somewhere along the lines of invalid and still needed some work. And he couldn't think of just upt and leaving; what about Mindfreak? They would no doubt catch either of them if they tried to run. And at the moment, he hadn't the slightest clue as to where the older bot even _was_.

Huffing, the light colored bot paced around his personal quarters, trying to hold back the urge of wanting to simply smash everything in sight. But he didn't want to scare Forest anymore than he currently was; the poor bird-like Minibot was currently hiding beneath the youngling's desk, shivering under the pushed in chair as he carefully watched his current owner pace around the room in an angered style, as if expecting him to suddenly lash at him. Like Aquajet ever could; it seemed now a days that the birdbot was the only piece of family that he still had in existence, and he didn't feel like hurting the little fragger at the moment and suddenly chasing him off. He knew the fragger knew how to hide just as well as he did, and that was the _bad _thing.

Sighing, Aquajet finally turned on his heel and walked over to his berth, plopping down on it as he hung his arms over his legs as comfortably as he could without tearing the berth with the blades on his forearms; that had happened once or twice. When he was sure that the youngling was in fact going to stay there, Forest dashed out from under the desk, leaping onto the bed in good stride and instantly tried to circle around the youngling's waist as best he could, his helm landing in the light colored mech's lap; purring lightly as he tried to inch closer to the body. Sighing yet again, Aquajet placed a servo gently on the Minbot's helm, petting him as the purring grew louder.

"'Ah jus' don't know wha' t' _do_ anymore," said the youngling, mostly to himself, with a slight whine in his voice. Instantly Forest looked up at the youngling with a sad look, the movement making Aquajet's servo stop as Forest gave a worried click. "'Ah know, 'Ah know," said the youngling, looking down to his peds, which barely touched the floor. "Don't think of anything crazy, right? That's what 'Freak always used to say an' all, ya know. 'Ah know ah' shouldn't try n' kill mahself an' all tryin' t' escape, buh ya know tha' we have'ta find _some_ way outta 'ere, right?"

Clicking again, the bird like minibot instantly got up and moved, walking up and curling into the youngling's lap like some sort of cat. Aquajet didn't mind; now that he was bigger, Forest didn't seem as big as he once was to him. More like less than half his size, at the moment. Relaxing, Aquajet slumped his arms over the minibot, now wishing that he had more to think about than just _this_.

He still didn't get why he couldn't see his guardian anymore; Soundwave had said that Mindfreak had to go somewhere or something, and he hadn't heard a word from him since. It was quite a surprise for Aquajet to then find Forest hiding under his berth in his private quarters, seeing as how the minibot never went _anywhere_ without his master, or even his brothers. He would have thought that perhaps Fraxure or Summit would have been one of the ones to find his quarters and hide under his berth, not the fraidy cat 'bot who couldn't fight worth a damn. Not that anything was _wrong_ with the minibot; he was loveable, and liked to cuddle a lot, which amused Aquajet a lot, and yet at the same time comforted him. He could remember his childhood when he slept against his guardian's chassis, pretty much cuddling as well even though he thought himself better than that now. Shows you how much someone changes, doesn't it?

Sighing, Aquajet moved to lay down on the berth, Forest giving an annoyed click as he moved to dash under the covers when they were lifted up and offered. Turning off the lights with a switch near the head of his berth, Aquajet slowly moved his way under the covers, Forest dashing under them and finding a place near where the youngling's legs would stay as he slept. Relaxing as he lay his helm on the pillow, servos going behind his helm, Aquajet made sure that he was fully covered up before staring at the ceiling, Forest happily wrapping himself his youngling's legs and peds before purring happily, falling into his own slumber as Aquajet lay awake. Sometimes, Aquajet wished that every day ended like this, and was happier than this as well.

And then again, he sometimes didn't.


	9. Part Nine

"Frag you."

The large bot across the room barely flinched or moved from the foul language being thrown at him, much to the younger bot's disappointment. Making Soundwave angry or agitated when you wanted to was not easy; maybe it was because he was a telepath, and therefore _knew_ that he was trying to anger him now. Aquajet leaned back on the table slightly, regarding the bot who sat nonchalantly on the chair next to the door, writing on some Datapad that he held in one servo. Soundwave seemed uninterested in the bot that he had just been working on; Aquajet's frame ached, and he wished that he could get the older bot feeling like he was at the moment. But he knew that the telepath was most likely stronger than him at the moment. That, and Soundwave had more backup than he did. So really there seemed no luck in even trying; maybe when he had a better vantage point or something.

"You're an _aft_, you know that?" Aquajet tried again, hoping that he could piss the third in command just enough to get sent to his quarters. At least _that_ would be better than more testing, or even just sitting there bored like Pit. When Soundwave barely tilted his helm upward, obviously looking the younger bot over once before looking back down to his Datapad, Aquajet knew that he was getting somewhere. "No, really!" the young bot said with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chassis. "Has anyone ever told you that before? You make a really good fraggin' son of a carrier, too."

There came a muffled grunt before the Datapad the third in command held went to his lap, and his helm instantly looked up fully so that it was obvious that he was giving the youngling a dirty look from behind his visor. There was a long moment of silence, and Aquajet kept his sly smirk and swaggering lean on the berth as they had a stare off. He could only wonder what ther frag the telepath was contemplating at the moment, and finally he got his answer.

"Arrangement: you will behave like a good mechling if I let you out to explore, yes?" asked the telepath, earning a victory grin from the youngling on the examination table as he silently slipped off when he heard of the deal.

"Alright, I can do that," he said as he headed towards the door. But as he was about to try to push the button to open it, an arm went in front of him, blocking his way out even if the door opened.

"Order: come back in five breems so that I can finish your check up," ordered Soundwave, earning a glare and a growl from the young mech. Knowing that he didn't - nor would - deny the order, Soundwave took his arm back and went back to his Datapad and letting the youngling to his peace.

**XXX**

At least having minimal free reign around the Decepticon headquarters wasn't all that bad, at least in his mind. He got to walk around a lot if he got annoying enough or mouthy enough with his superiors, or if he bored them enough. Either that, or sent to his sleeping quarters, but hey, he got away with having to do anything else for the day. Which was most likely why Soundwave liked to test on him the most; he was smart by most standards, and knew how to get his way when he wanted to. Well, sometimes, seeing as how any other time he could easily be hit upside the helm for what he said or did to his elders here. He was just lucky there was nothing that he could really do in order to get them back for what they did, or else he would in a spark beat.

His usual route he took when exploring the base was around to the med bay, past the rec room, past the training area, and then back to his quarters; maybe another round or two of walking if he still felt up to it, or didn't feel tired just yet. Usually he kept to the sides of the hall, looking down to the floor and trying not to look anyone in the optics. To most - at least to the primal mechs, or just the stupid ones, really - that meant a challenge, or just thought that he was testing them or something, and usually tried to push him around, ending up in a few dents and probably a bloody nose. Aquajet tried to stay out of fights that he thought he couldn't handle, but some of the things that was said to him, he couldn't help but throw a few words or even a fist back in response. Then again, who couldn't?

He must have been out of it again as he walked silently through his normal route; the next thing he knew was that he was on his aft, looking up in a confused manner at who had pushed him down. A large was standing over him, a not so happy expression on his facial plates.

"What the frag d'ya think's yer problem, _kid_?" growled the older mech, taking a step back to obviously get a better look at the one who had ran into him. Aquajet merely gulped, and pushed his gaze back down to the floor as he tried to stumble back onto his peds.

"Sorry, _sir_," he muttered with minimal hatred in his voice, trying not to make the situation worse than it already was. The older mech merely growled again, and the next thing he knew, Aquajet was pinned up against the wall, legs dangling above the floor as he limply kicked them, finally trying to get a better look at the larger mech's face.

"D'I hear sass, kid?" asked the mech in a not so friendly voice, pushing harder against the smaller mech's shoulders and making Aquajet flinch at the currently painful pinning he was under; his body still hurt from the recent testing that he went through. No wonder he never really liked those things; the painfulness from said testing usually hurt for hours afterwards.

"No," grunted Aquajet, trying to kick his legs harder against his captor. The mech's arms must have been longer than they looked; he barely hit the other mech with the tip of his peds, and he was sure that the mech was much taller than he was. Aquajet _was_ much smaller than most mechs he knew, and the Decepticons were a much larger race than most. Perhaps it was because of all the of working Soundwave did on them. That would make sense. "Was only tryin' t' get back t' mah room," Aquajet tried to say calmly, barely able to back the snarl in his voice. Grunting, the large mech merely hit him hard against the wall, making him flinch.

"Well I say your back-sassin' me, kid," grumbled the older mech. In the dim light of the hall, Aquajet was sure that he recognized that face from somewhere, although he couldn't be sure. Lighting around here always seemed crappy, even though they had better tacticians here. At least, that's what he heard.

"No sir," replied Aquajet instantly, trying harder to get away from the servos that held him up; trying to kick harder, and grabbing at the arms attached to said servos, as if it would help him be free of his attacker. It didn't, of course; he merely got hit harshly against the wall again, making him now cry out because of the pain. The large mech smirked.

"Startin' t' hurt ya, am I?" he asked, before finally - _finally_ - letting the youngling fall to the floor with a loud thud, taking a step back so that he could examine his prey. "Yo're a small un', ya know that? Ain't seen nothin' much smaller than you, before, honestly. Who you belong to?" Aquajet merely gave the older mech a snarl before answering.

"No one," he answered. When it looked as if the answer was going to piss the other bot even more, he quickly said, "Ah'm one'a Soundwave's experiments, if tha's what yer askin'. Have'ta be small so that he can work on me an' all." There was a silent moment before the mech smirked down at him, red optics glaring.

"It'd a' make sense," he said, taking another step back. "Someone as small as you ain't good fer nothin' but experiments anyway, ah' guess. Jus' make sure I don' see yer face again th' next time ya decide t' pick a fight, otherwise _I'll_ be th' on th' givin' end."

With that, the other mech turned and began walking away. Aquajet simply sat there as he did so, not wanting to move until he was out of sight. With his luck, the mech would take his movement of trying to get up as some sort of challenge. He didn't seem too smart, honestly, but he seemed strong. Once he was sure he was in the safe zone, Aquajet stumbled to his peds, parts of his frame now aching because of the brutal beating he almost went through. Man, people did _not_ like him very well. Then again, he didn't like people very much, either. Grunting and looking around to make sure that no one else was around, Aquajet thought it best that he headed back to his quarters right about now; his body was beginning to get sorer than usual, and all he felt like doing was going and lying down for a little while. Like that would help much; he would still have to face the same facts tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Poor Aquajet, always getting himself into trouble.<p> 


	10. Part Ten

"Pit spawned fragger."

The wall behind him buckled as he was pinned up against him, the form of his frame most likely now there as some sort of mold. This amused Soundwave somehow, to see his creation being beaten like this all because he wanted to see him transform into his animalistic alt mode. What an aft. However, Aquajet tried not to show that he was pissed by all of this slag and drama; instead, he tried to piss the other bot more, and scuff him up some. More slag for Soundwave to fix, Aquajet had told him self as he pulled his legs up and kicked the other mech hard in the abdomen, sending him to the ground with a pained shout. He was sure Soundwave got these mechs to do these things to him, to start this slag and. The slim mech fell to the ground with a thud, his aft instantly hurting from the impact. However, he ignored it, instantly leaping to his peds as the other stumbled to his peds, an arm around where Aquajet had kicked him.

"You think yer a tough little fragger, don't cha?" the mech asked with a snarl. "I'll show you tough, you fragger."

"Bring it," Aquajet smirked, trying his best to look amused with the lack of patience and outsized amount of hatred towards him.

It's not like they could break anything else around here; although the rec room was empty, save a few mechs watching the fight - and most likely betting who would win and who would be offlined - the room was totally and utterly destroyed. Surely, someone was going to pay for all this. And AJ _knew_ that it wasn't going to be the other guy. With the roar, the mech lunged at him, Aquajet barely having time to get into a defensive position as he did so. He was lucky that he didn't need time; in mid air, the mech was suddenly slammed to the ground by a large fist, crying out in pain as his hit hard on his back strut. Aquajet couldn't help but flinch.

"E_nough_," roared a deep, grumbling voice, ruby optics looking down at the mech whom their owner had just so easily taken down in one hit. "Think you had 'bout 'nough a' yar fighting, ya fragger. Ruinin' the rec room! Primus _knows_ ol' Meagtron'll have ahre helms if we d'stroy it. 'D rather keep mah sanctuary, thank you."

Aquajet squinted at the new mech who had practically saved his aft; wasn't he the one from the other night, who nearly beat his aft for running into him in the hall? It _looked_ like him, however the hall was too dim to take anything in. The mech on the floor groaned, and flinched as if he were trying to get up, however seemed unable to. Aquajet had to admit that he wouldn't be able to move much after a move like _that_; he could see cracks sprouting out from the floor around where the mech lay. The other mech instantly shot his gaze to a few who where watching everything play out, and gave them some sort of gesture. Two seemed displeased by the motion, however stepped forward and took the mech on the floor - one grabbing his legs, the other his shoulders - and lifted him up, heading out of the rec room and most likely to the med bay. After watching the duo take the mech out, and everyone else either scurrying out or going back to regular business, the new mech instantly looked to Aquajet; the youngling startled a little, barely realizing that he was still in his defensive position.

"Pick yer battles next time, kid," spat the older bot, snarling as he turned in his direction; Aquajet silently took a small step back, barely twitching out of his defensive position as he stared back at the other mech with unmoving optics. "Ya kin get yerself killed doin' slag like tha', an' ah'm sure no one's gunna miss ya when yer gone, either, much less clean up yer entrails when yer layin' there on the floor in crumpled mess." Aquajet's nose merely crinkled at what the mech was saying.

"Says you," the light colored bot merely retorted, now standing erect. "What'd _you_ know anyway?" The mech again snarled, giving him a hated look.

"Yew should respect yer elders," pointed out the mech, before deciding to leave the conversation be, turning away from the youngling and heading out of the rec room, obviously not wanting to try anything.

Not like Aquajet cared much for the other mech, nor did he call to him to thank him for saving his aft; he would probably get his aft kicked anyway for the next word he said to him, he felt it in his gut. Not like he was afraid of the mech; no, he just didn't want to be limping to the med bay like he was for any _mor_e reasons. Hook didn't like fixing more than he should, the youngling quickly learned after being unable to have Mindfreak fix any wounds that he had.

* * *

><p>I think that my goal is to just make Aquajet an ass, but oh well. That's what makes him fun.<p> 


	11. Part Eleven

"What'd ya _mean_ you fraggin' offlined him?" roared the light colored youngling, the telepath not even budging as he was verbally assaulted. "You _knew_ that he wasn't no spy or nothin', so what fraggin' other reason _was_ there t' make ya slaggin' off_line_ him?"

Aquajet snarled, baring his dentals at the older mech that stood before him On an operation table next to them, the limp body of Forest lay, never to move again due to it's dead state. At the moment, Aquajet wanted to kill Soundwave, and for what he thought a good reason. When he had came back to an empty berth room after going to Hook's med bay to check out his injuries - which were minor, so said Hook and himself - Aquajet had gotten a little worried; Forest _never_ got out of his quarters without Aquajet, and after a thorough and frantic search around the base, the youngling finally found himself at Soundwave's lab; where he in turn found the telepath looming over his remaining friend's recently deactivated body. And when he heard the reason for such a thing, of course it pissed Aquajet off. And the worst thing was, Soundwave didn't even seem to feel remorse.

"Explanation: Lord Megatron feared that your little pet may pose as a threat to our cause, and therefore had to be eliminated," droned out the third in command, shifting on his peds slightly. Aquajet merely growled at the explanation he received.

"That's a load of fraggin' slag!" Aquajet retorted, throwing his arms in the arm in protest and anger. "Forest couldn't even hurt a fraggin' cyber fly, much less relay any information you may have to anyone else! And t' who th' frag d'ya think he'd relay th' information _to_?" Soundwave merely stared for a moment before responding.

"Matter: illogical. Statement: it is better to do as Megatron says rather than facing the consequences of not doing so," droned Soundwave. "Question: why don't you do as you are told, youngling? Your life would be smoother if you did."

Again Aquajet snarled, seeing as how this conversation was not going anywhere, and instead gazed back at the deactivated body of Forest. Instantly his spark sank at the site; now who would he have to keep him company? Who would he have to talk to anymore? Why would anyone do such a thing to something that was almost as defenseless as a sparkling. [Almost, as in Forest could defend himself, however was still weak compared to most minicons that Aquajet knew about.] When it seemed that he wasn't going to answer, Soundwave went back to looking over Datapads he had been looking over before Aquajet had stormed in. The light colored mech could care less, turning fully and looking at the limp body before him, dread spreading over him the longer he chose to stare at the limp minibot. If he wasn't so strong helmed, he might have started crying the moment he saw that limp body lying there on the table, regardless of anyone who was standing in the room with him. Why? Why did everything in his life always have to be taken away from him like he was some terrible creature who deserved nothing but pain?

Slowly, a servo reached out to the body before him, and gently Aquajet placed his servo on the minibot's helm, petting the unmoving creature one last time. He knew that the creature would probably be used for scrape metal, and that he could do nothing about it. He could fight and kick and scream, yes, but that wouldn't do him any good; just get him into more trouble than he already always was. That, and he wouldn't be able to get the body _that_ way. He just hoped that he would be getting a proper burial, however that was a lie waiting to happen; Aquajet knew that he would most likely be getting turned into scrape metal or something totally uncouth. The thought almost made him retch up his recently drank Energon. He was all alone now, Forest being his last piece of sanity on this damned planet. There was nothing to keep him going, nothing to keep him strong, nothing to….. Nothing to hold him back from doing anything that he wanted to do. Like escaping.

Aquajet gave a panicked look to Soundwave to make sure that the mech wasn't picking up on anything; the telepath seemed too indulged in his Datapads to try and read his feelings. But Aquajet knew that he had to get out to he could keep thinking. Petting the bird like minibot's helm one more - last - time before abruptly turning and heading towards the door, silently escaping without another word to the telepath as he left. Not that Soundwave would care; at least he didn't have to deal with him anymore, right? Exactly.

**XXX**

Pacing his quarters, Aquajet quickly began processor storming some ideas. He knew that Forest was resting with the Matrix now, and Mindfreak was somewhere else with his other two minibots, and most likely out of Decepticon clutches. [That would be Mindfreak, finding a way to escape without anybody knowing about it.] So now the young mech could plan his escape out of his Pit-hole. It would take some planning and time - most likely time, seeing as how he knew that he wasn't going to get away from this anytime soon - and he knew that he could be patient enough to wait until the moment arrived so he could escape and go into hiding. It might also take more planning than he realized; he would have to make sure that he wasn't thinking these thoughts around Soundwave, or he might bust him for trying to escape or even make up a lie to Megatron so that way he could do something terrible with him. And honestly, Aquajet _dreaded_ that moment, if it ever happened.

Sighing, the youngling strided over and relaxed on his berth, lying back without getting under the covers and looking up at the ceiling, trying to think. He could always create a big stir and then, in the frenzy of it all, escape and not be noticed at all. Then again, there were a few other bots who were faster than he was, or who might see him trying to escape and easily stop them. But then he could transform and kill them off with his animalistic alt mode, couldn't he? Then again, it still hurt to transform into that, so that was out of the question. Maybe he could stay long enough for Soundwave to perfect said alt mode and _then _he could try his daring act to escape. But he didn't know how long the perfection might take, and he didn't know how long he could stand staying where he was.

Sighing, Aquajet rolled over and faced the wall, helm resting on his wrists. This was going to take longer than he expected, wasn't it?

* * *

><p>Aquajet, planning his escape. What will happen?<p> 


	12. Part Twelve

His big break came longer than he had expected, and it was like nothing he saw coming in the first place. It was apparent that the Autobots thought that it would have been smart to try and over run the Decepticon base in a surprise attack, startling everyone and anyone inside; even Aquajet himself. Of course, being at the time twenty one in human years, Aquajet was about to try and create a distraction himself if it hadn't been for the Autobots doing that for him. No _wonder_ Mindfreak had always favored them more than any other faction, and often bragged on them when he had gotten the chance, and always spoke good about them around his adopted charge; they seemed to come prancing along just when you needed them, didn't they? Well, at least in Aquajet's optics, anyway; any longer of being unable to escape, or to try his plan out without being caught doing so, and he probably would have gone mad with all of the experimenting and being trapped and the likes.

Because his quarters were well away from everyone else, and mostly around the often storage areas, Aquajet's escape was quick and painless, and much more lonely. Well, almost, seeing as how he constantly had to dodge Autobot infantry by hiding in different rooms or startling them with his cat-like alt mode and then dashing off as they sat there dazed. [Soundwave _really_ had a thing for cats, now that Aquajet sat there and thought about it for a moment.] The young mech was lucky that he was swift and agile, because otherwise he would have been unable to make the escape that he had been able to make. He was sure that a few Decepticons had saw him and recognized him, however he didn't care; by the time they were able to report his escape - if they made it out of the fight with their sparks still beating in their chambers, that is - he would be long gone and hiding somewhere where he could never be found and tested on again, he knew, he knew for sure.

Stealthing in his feline alt mode, the halls of the hideout were barren except for the corpses that seemed to often line the floor where he walked. Often he purposely walked on the dead Decepticon bodies in some sort of twisted revenge, and usually tried to dodge stepping on the fallen Autobot troops, seeing as how they basically saved his aft and all, and had unintentionally helped him escape his hell. He had to admit, he owed them something, even though they never knew what they had done for him and all. Not like he would ever tell them; he wasn't looking for a place to stay that would help him from ever being tested on again, nor was he looking for shelter or to join in on the war and help fight what ever cause he thought to be most worthy. He was happy being on the run, and he knew that of he stayed for too long in one place, he would be caught or something even more terrible than that might as well happen to him. He didn't want to die just yet; not when he had a life to live, and to most likely seek revenge on those who had hurt both him, and his guardian and all.

Hey, with him, it was quite possible.

**XXX**

Seeing the billowing black smoke in the distance the building slowly toppling in on itself and most likely killing those inside it without and mercy to be given, Aquajet felt mighty proud of himself for all that he did to escape the clutches of the devil. Sure, he killed a few Decepticons trying to escape, and he was sure that he was spotted once or twice when trying to escape, but not like those mechs who spotted him would last long. Perhaps there was a Primus, and he would let him be free by killing off those mechs who saw him and let him had the life that he wanted to have without any worry of ever being caught and tormented again. That would make him a believer, that was for sure. With someone like him escaping from the Decepticons and getting away with it and disappearing without a trace, who _wouldn't_ turn into a believer after that? Most bots, he would truthfully assume, would, at least if they were in his position.

A smirk playing on his lips, Aquajet couldn't believe that he got away with escaping like he had just had. It felt strange, he said to himself as he turned to silently walk away in his protoform, ignoring the sounds of battle that he was leaving behind, now being a free mech. Sure, he was positive that _some_one was going to be searching for him at some time or another. But for all anyone knew, he was either dead in that soon to be rubble or the Autobots had taken him captive and what not. He was about thirty to forty percent sure that he could fake his own death without even trying, and he was positive that he could and would get away from anyone who happened to be chasing after him. He was a fast mech, and he knew that he could get out of almost any situation that was thrown at him. He wasn't afraid of some Decepticon scum; he'd never be one of them, even if he _was_ half Decepticon. He wasn't too proud of his father and all, but not like he would ever see the mech again. At least not in his lifetime. He was honestly hoping that his sire was somewhere in the carnage that he was leaving behind, and that the mech would end up getting killed, perhaps even suffering slowly or something. He had to admit, he had some sort of sick, twisted processor in his helm there, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

He had been abandon, and therefore he had a right to choose how he treated who he hated; his sire had abandon him, and he had the right to kill him off in any sick, twisted fantasy that he had. He was a cruel mech sometimes, he had to admit, but like he stated before, he would not have it any other way, and he wasn't looking to change it for anyone. Period.


	13. Part Thirteen

_I've Seen Better Days, Yeah_

_So Says the Mirror_

_It's Hard to Find Divinity _

_When You're the King of Men_

Running; running was probably the only thing he had ever known these past few vorns around Cybertron. The war was tearing up the planet, but he didn't care. As long as his aft wasn't the one in the middle of it. As long as he could get away from those chasing him, he was all fine and dandy about everything else happening around him. That was his cruel nature, something that he had oh so easily developed in the past few vorns that he had been running around, like some sort of gazelle on the run from a pride of starving lions. He wasn't scared of anything that was hunting him down; he just knew better than to look over his shoulder when he heard voices, and would rather run when he heard someone shout his designation than stop and turn to see whom it was that was calling him. All he ever cared about was self preservation, and that was all that ever mattered.

Sitting here in an abandon, broken down building, now was no different. He could hear distant voices outside, however he knew better than to go and check them out. Better to wait until nightfall, where the stealth of darkness could allude anyone trying to come at him. He was smarter than to think that he could get out while the day was still wearing thin. Much less the fact that the city was still being torn to shambles; the attack on it had started not that morning, and the Decepticons weren't going to stop until they had every survivor joining the Matrix. He was sure that they had every road blocked off, therefore he had to think of a better escape route. He had heard rumor of the Autobots being somewhere in the city. Maybe he could use that as a rouse of some sort, try to get into their turf, then sneak out in the dead of night. He had done that a few times before, however he was sure that there was no one in the Autobot forces who would recognize his face or designation.

There were sudden voices that grew closer from the outside, and instantly Aquajet shuffled closer to the wall and rubble behind him, looking for an exit if needed. Finally, he spotted one; a whole in the ceiling big enough for him to squeeze to and escape to the second floor. He was sure that there were several tall buildings around this one, and he could hop from one to the other without being noticed by any of the Decepticon guards posted around the city. Oh yeah, he was smart like that.

"Hey guys, I think I heard something in here somewhere," said a voice too close to the broken doorway of the house for Aquajet's comfort.

In an instant the neutral was up, and with cat like reflexes - no pun intended - the mech took at running start at the nearby wall. He kicked off of it easily, for a moment believing that he was going to miss his target. He was lucky that he was used to this sort of slag; any less of an aim and he would have been a goner. Wearily he pulled himself up into the hole, just as the sounds of shouting and gunfire shot at where he had been. Taking no time, the light colored mech instantly dodged to the window, breaking the glass easily with one of the sword like objects on his fore arms before taking a look down. The next window was nearly three feet away, but he would manage; he couldn't last long with those other mechs on his tail. Taking another running start, Aquajet easily went tumbling trough the window next door, no glass included this time. The voices became distant and the gunfire had ceased, however he didn't hesitate; instantly he went looking for another window in which he could go through and into another building.

This little masquerade went on for a few breems, seeing as how he was paranoid enough to think that he was still being followed. He made sure to stay as quiet as possible, for in a few buildings, the first floor sounded as if it held a live audience. And he didn't want to risk being caught and being sent back to that hell of his. The thought was just too much to bear. That thought of being sent back to be tested on by Soundwave was probably his only motive to keep moving and to keep living the way he did. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have cared what happened to him, just as long as he keeled over and died. But he wasn't the sort of mech to do something like that. Not now, and not ever.

Getting tired, Aquajet found a lower level of a house to relax in until it grew dark, which wouldn't be for a few more hours or so. And he needed to rest; he had been running all day, without much food, either. He _did _have a ration in his storage compartment, however he knew to save that until he could relax and not worry about being behind enemy lines. He was better off just killing himself if he wanted to do something like that. What probably got him out of his quiet trance was that of Decepticon soldiers coming near the building he was in. Growling, Aquajet got closer to the wall and did like he did in the last house; tried to look for an exit. What surprised him was that they never entered where he was hiding; instead, he heard screaming from across the street, and gunfire. Curious, Aquajet sleuthed towards the door, careful not to be caught by anyone as he did so.

Looking out an shattered window, it seemed that they were killing off a family or something; torturing them in some way before simply shooting them and letting them die slowly. He could have sworn that he heard sparkling cries. And, to his better judgment, the light colored mech left his current safe haven, slinking to the other side of the street and to the other living area so that he could see what was going on. He knew something was going to go wrong here, however he didn't care; he just wanted to have a look, was all. Was that really that bad?

* * *

><p>So now Aquajet's been on the run for a while now. Yay. And now he seems to have found something. What will happen? The lyrics are from the song Get Through This by Art of Dying.<p> 


	14. Part Fourteen

"You get away from my brother!" ordered the older sparkling, taking his defensive place in front of the crouched mechling huddled in the corner. Oil tears ran down both of their cheeks, however the older sparkling was obviously trying to look past his parents and older sibling having just been killed and instead at the mean mechs in front of him, who regarded both he and his cowering brother with amused expressions, as he tried to protect his whimpering brother.

"Oh yeah, kid?" asked one of the Decepticons, a smirk playing on his lips as he looked down at the small being standing before he and his buddies. "And what'd ya think that _you're_ gonna do about this, huh, ya little whimp?" The older sparkling choked back a sob, his younger, look alike brother whimpering louder as he tried to curl up into the corner that he was using as his current "hiding place."

"You think you're tough now," laughed another Decepticon, stepping forward as his cannons began to charge, "and it's too bad you'll never find out, huh? You useless pieces of scrape, I'm sure you'll be good for nothing but scrape metal."

"Yeah, say "hi" t' yer parents when ya join the Matrix, huh, fellas?" snickered a third mech, obviously enjoying the show that he was receiving. The older twin merely growled, still trying to protect his younger brother, even though both of their deaths were intimate.

Just as it sounded as if the mean mech was done charging his cannon and was ready to fire, a rain from the heavens came to their rescue; the sound of gunfire from above startling the sparkling. The Decepticon mechs didn't seem to see this coming, either. The mech with the cannon was taken down with ease; bullets raining down from above, his frame collapsing, his spirit dead before he ever hit the ground. A figure swung down like Robin Hood, taking out another mech with a hit of his peds to his helm, sending his injured frame tumbling into another surprised mech. The figure then easily landed onto the floor on even peds, giving the last mech who stood in front of him in surprise a look of anger before he leapt at the mech with lightning fast reflexes; sword-like cuts gouging the mech and sending him to the ground before he even had a second to recover from the thought. The strange mech then turned to the last mech, who was trying to stand as he pushed his companion's frazzled body off of him; easily pulling out his gun and firing a shot without a second of remorse.

The strange mech looked around at the decapitated bodies around him, as if contemplating weather it was worth it for him to have actually killed him, before turning on his heels to the sparklings who still were huddled near the corner of their used to be home. Or at least the smaller one was; the larger one had managed to stand back up from his stumble, and was looking over the dead bodies of the cruel mechs that had just killed off his family before his and his brother's optics. When the strange mech took a step forward, the older sparkling instantly went into the defensive positive like he had earlier, giving the mech a expression mixed with terror and the fact that he still wasn't about to give up his brother.

"S-stay away!" stuttered the larger mechling, trying to hide the fact that he was still sniffling from the crying he had been doing. "S-s-stay back! D-Don't come any closer!"

The mech merely smirked, and did the thing that the sparkling hadn't wanted him to; easily getting close enough to the mechling in one step and kneeling down in front of him. The mechling instantly gave a slightly startled sound and jumped back slightly, however not dropping his defensive position. He didn't seem to like the smirk that the strange mech had on his lips.

"Now is that a way to treat a mech who just saved your afts from deaths?" asked the light colored mech, tilting his helm to one side in question. "You know, you really _should_ be more respectful to your elders, especially when they just saved you from joining the Matrix like your parents and all."

"Sh-shut up!" shouted the mechling with a hint of a sob in his voice, trying to a dash at the mech before him; instantly he was caught by his scruff bar, thrashing as he was lifted off the ground and away from the mech's body. "Put he _down_!" ordered the mechling, trying to hit at the face plates that were so far away, even though his optics were offlined.

"Feisty, too, huh?" smirked the light colored mech before looking at the other mechling who still coward in the corner; tears streaming down his face and cheeks as he watched his brother being dangled in the air by the strange mech. "You're alright," said the mech kindly, holding out a servo and trying to gesture the mechling closer to him. However, the youngling merely whimpered and tried to get further into the corner.

"Grr, you stay away from him!" growled the older mechling, however huffing and panting as he slowed down from his kicking and screaming. Sighing, the older mech placed the sparkling on his skid plates on the ground, the mechling making an "oof" sound as he landed on the ground.

"You _know_, I _am_ trying to help you," stated the mech, giving the two younglings a once over as he began to notice too many similarities between the two little ones before him. "Are you two, by any chance, twins or something?" tried the mech, raising an optic ridge to the mechling he knew who would answer.

"Yes," huffed the older twin, giving the mech a wretched look as he crossed his arms over his small chassis. "What's it to ya?" Again the mech smirked down at him, amused by the youngling's courage and hard helmnedess. Almost reminded him of _himself_ when he was a sparkling.

"Haven't seen none a ya 'fore, is all," stated the mech, before looking to the mechling who was still cowering in the corner. "I won't hurt ya, ya know. Ah wouldn't hurt somethin' as little as yew er yer brother. Just risked my aft just t' save ya, ya know." The older twin instantly snorted.

"How d' _we_ know that?" asked the black painted mechling, looking up at the mech with a distrusting look.

"Touché," shrugged the light colored mech as he shifted, before sighing. "I guess if ya don't trust me 'nough, I can't take ya t' the Autobots like ah wanted t'."

"Autobots?" muttered the smaller sparkling in the corner, finally speaking for once during this whole time. The mech couldn't blame him for not doing so; he probably would have done the same if his family had just been killed before his optics.

"Yeah," shrugged the mech as he stood up, acting as if he were getting ready to leave. "Heard that they were here around here somewhere. Was plannin' t' take ya to them, so ya'd have a place t' stay an' all, but ah guess that if ya can't trust me an' all." Just as he turned to leave, there came a sudden cry from behind, startling both he and the older twin.

"P-please, don't leave!" cried the younger twin, still shivering in his corner. "T-they might come back for us, a-and I don't wanna be left fer dead."

"Are you _crazy_, Blackbird?" cried the older mech as he jumped to his peds and turned to his twin in surprise and slight anger. "For all we know, this guy _works_ for them, and he could be takin' us to our _doom_ or something." At this, the light colored mech smirked, however did not turn around turning around the face the two.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," started the mech, "I'd rather join the Matrix than join than Decepticon scum. Plus, I really don't have the will to hurt a couple a sparklings like you. I was just like you two once, you know; alone, with no family to rely on. I could help you two get to a safer place, and not be killed off. You two ever hear of the Youth Sector? The Autobots'll send you there, where nothin'll happen t' ya and you can leave when yer all grown."

There was a long silence between the three, and Aquajet could only guess that the twins were talking silently through their twin bond; he had once heard Soundwave saying something about twins having something like that, where they could communicate and feel each other's feelings just like a bonded couple, however they had this bond from the start. Finally, the older mechling grumbled, obviously giving in to what ever his younger brother had to say to him.

"_Fine_," sighed the older mechling. "We'll _go_. But don't expect us to listen and all."

"I won't," chuckled the mech, spinning on his heels and kneeling back down. When he tried to grab for the older twin, seeing if he wanted to be carried instead of walking- they were both small enough to throw over either shoulder without much trouble, really - when the mechling quickly shuffled away.

"I don't need't be carried," he grumbled, shuffling back with his arms crossed tightly around his chassis again, before nodding to his brother. "BB needs t' be carried, though. He's too slow, he'll keep us held back and all."

The light colored mech sighed and rolled his optics, turning to the other mechling and reaching out to him, gesturing him to come over to him; the gap between them was a few feet, however he didn't want to scare the mechling anymore than he already was. When the mechling whimpered and shriveled away, the mech's expression turned from that of annoyed to that of a saddened one. Why would anyone kill one's family in front of their optics, especially when they were so young? The mech couldn't believe that he was feeling this much remorse for these two sparklings, but he could only guess it was because of the fact that his family was taken away from him at such a young age.

"It's alright, Blackbird," he said softly, remembering to say the youngling's designation as to not scare him anymore. "I won't hurt you. I just wish to help. It's alright."

It looked as if the older twin were about to say something to his younger brother when he abruptly shut his mouth just as a few sounds started to come out. Blackbird looked at the mech first with a confused expression, than with that of an astonished one. Instantly after that, Blackbird gave a muffled sob before stumbling to his peds and then quickly stumbling over to the mech with the outstretched servo; being caught just as he was about to trip and fall over onto the Energon covered ground. The mech scooped up the mechling and held him close to his chassis as he stood, Blackbird instantly curling up into the mech's chassis and body. The mech grumbled, hiding that fact that his spark swelled slightly at the action that he was receiving.

Without another word, the mech turned and began walking over the decapitated bodies, taking extra care in what he believed to be the twins' family. He didn't want to disgrace the dead bodies anymore than he should. Behind him, the other mechling stumbled as he followed, his footsteps following on an occasion as he most likely stopped to glance at his dead family member's bodies. Before exiting the through the door, he had to make sure that no one was around, which to his luck there wasn't, before silently slipping out of the door frame, the older sparkling stumbling behind him in a frantic attempt to keep up. The mech was almost tempted to ask him if he was sure that he didn't want to be carried, however saw the mechling too hard helmed enough to accept the request.

"I'm Raven, by the way," panted the older mechling as he jogged to catch up to the mech that was supposedly helping he and his brother. Raising an optic ridge, the mech looked down to the mechling curiously as they slumped along the building walls.

"And your point is?" he asked, obviously not getting the hint that the youngling was giving him about his name. The grumbled at the reply that he was given; the mech realizing that the answer he had given the youngling was not the one that he wanted.

"Well, what's _your_ designation?" asked the youngling - Raven - in a tired an annoyed voice, now having to take longer strides in order to keep up with the strange mech. "I mean, it'd be nice to at least know the designation of the mech who just save me and my brother back there, right? So what's your designation, huh?"

The light colored mech merely stared at Raven as they walked, his brother happily curled up in the mech's arms, content on staying there . On one servo, he could lie and make up some designation and the two never know _he _really save their afts back there, and never see them again. On the other, he could tell them his real designation and then many vorns later them find him and thank him and all. Then again, this older mechling seemed to hate him more than anything, and that probably was never going to happen in a million vorns. Sighing, the mech caved in.

"Th' name's Aquajet, and don't you forget it."

* * *

><p>And now Aquajet finally finds the twins. What'll happen next? Well, obviously, he wants to drop off dumb and dumber to where their safe and all, but how did he end up with them? You'll see next chapter.<p> 


	15. Part Fifteen

Along the way of trying to find what Aquajet hoped to be true, he learned a little bit more about the sparklings then he intended. The youngest one, Blackbird, was pretty much silent the whole time, and Aquajet couldn't really blame him; he would be, too, if he just saw his family murdered right in front of his optics. The oldest one, Raven, however, was pretty talkative for going through the same thing his brother had endured. He liked to talk, too, and didn't want to be picked up and carried by Aquajet, even though he was constantly falling behind and having to run to catch up. Sparklings had smaller legs than he remembered them having. Then again, he was one, too; but he had always accepted being carried by his guardian rather than falling behind.

Apparently, the sparklings were five vorns old; roughly the age of five year old children on Earth. They were twins, of course, and Raven was the oldest of the two. Aquajet tried not to ask was Blackbird was just a little bit smaller, though; it was probably something complicating that their carrier or sire never told them about. Before their family had gotten killed, they lived with their sire, carrier, older sister, and their carrier's sire. That sounded like a fund family unit, Aquajet had commented, and Raven had stated that it was; apparently their grand-creator often took them to the market and let them buy Energon goodies and even anew toy every once and a while.

"And-and sometimes… w-we gotta go t' th' p-park and play games with a lot th' other younglings and all. It was really cool," the oldest twin had panted as he managed to keep up with the mech, however having to constantly sprint in time with the mech's movements, surprising Aquajet a little, if for the fact that he could actually _keep up_ with him in the first place.

As the sun began to set, Aquajet began to worry about them being caught by the Decepticons; they were going great so far, hiding in abandon and torn down buildings every time they heard something, and making sure that they kept their conversation to a quiet volume, however he knew that anyone could spot them at any moment and report back to Decepticon territory. Either that, or just kill them off; which, at that thought, Aquajet hoped that it was the first one, seeing as how they had better chance of getting further away than just simply being ambushed and killed. The thought made him more paranoid than he perhaps should have; however tried not to show it, because he did not want to frighten the younglings, or scare Blackbird more than he already was.

After a while of sleuthing, Aquajet was tempted to simply drop the two off somewhere and be on his merry way, due to the fact that he did not wish to be caught by the Decepticons. He was already well out of their reach, and he simply did _want_ to go simply running back into their arms like he basically was now. He almost hated to admit that the younglings were slowing him down a lot, and almost regretted not simply leaving them there to die. However, he was not that heartless, and would expect someone else to do the same for his sparklings if he had been in their creator's positions. His luck also seemed to change quickly; the echoing of voices coming closer startled the trio, Blackbird hiding his face in Aquajet's chassis, and Raven growling and quickly getting into a defensive position like he had been back at his home, as if he was going to fight who ever was coming closer to them.

Rolling his optics, Aquajet grabbed the youngling by the scruff bar, the black colored mech giving a startled yelp as he was drug behind a wall that still stood from a recently fallen house. Plopping the youngling down on his aft, Aquajet peered over the side of the wall, to where the voices were coming from; they must have heard Raven's startled cry, because now they were heading their way. Growling and ducking back behind the wall, and without another sound, Aquajet readied his weapon, earning a slightly surprised gawk from Raven and a whimper from Blackbird as he hid further into his chassis. When the voices came close enough, a confused conversation arising between the two about said noise they had just heard, Aquajet, in a quick movement, was facing the other _two_ mechs, weapon raised in a defensive stand.

"Hold your fire! We'll shoot!" shouted the first mech, raising his own gun if only with a hint of being startled by the sudden mech appearing from what seemed like nowhere. The second mech still seemed in shock as the dup faced off, before seeming to notice what Aquajet held in his arms, and quickly gawked at his comrade before grabbing the end of the gun, and forcefully pressing it down to where the barrel now was aimed at the ground.

"He's holdin' a sparkling, you fraggin' idiot!" shouted the second mech, turning to his comrade with a slight hint of anger and totally seeming to "wig out" at the fact that his comrade didn't even seem to notice what the light colored mech that had surprised them was holding. Aquajet stood as he was, giving the two mechs regarding looks as he tried to decide weather they were really threatening or not.

"An' how do _you_ know that it isn't some sort of ruse or what ever?" stated the first mech in a serious tone, giving his comrade a disbelieving look before looking back at the mech standing before them, not raising his weapon like Aquajet still had his, yet his digit still on the trigger, as if expecting that he had to use it any second.

"But ya _still_ don't hurt a fraggin' _sparkling_ or _youngling_!" went on the second mech in a slightly raised pitch, now seeming unable to believe what his comrade was now say to him, now turning to face him rather than face the light colored mech like his partner was. Looking over the two mechs, Aquajet realized that they both had something in common that he had seen before on plenty of other mechs.

"You two Autobots, by any chance?" asked Aquajet slowly before the first mech could give his comrade a comeback, lowering his weapon only slightly as he gave the two a distrusting look. Both mechs turned to look at him, the first one seeming to forget what he was doing for a moment before speaking.

"Yeah," he scoffed, a slight smirk coming on his lips, much to his partner's obvious displeasure of doing so. Again Aquajet regarded the two mech before him before wearily putting away his gun, almost unable to do so for lack of protection. The movement received a conceded grin from the second mech, and an utterly confused expression from the first one.

"I'm only a neutral, you see," he started slowly, shifting on his peds as Raven peeked his helm around from his current hiding place, "an' I was passin' through here and all. Helped a set of twins from bein' murdered in their home. Their family's dead now, an' I was hopin' t' find you all so they'd have a better place t' stay. I don't really stay in one spot, ya see, and was recokonin' that you'd know where t' place 'im better than I could." The first mech seemed to give him one last distrusting look, before finally lowering his weapon completely before putting it away.

"Alright," he said slowly. "But I'mma have't get you interrogated and all since your coming with us. We still don't know if you're a threat and all."

"Oh, I'm not going with you two," Aquajet stated flatly, looking even more serious than he had sounded. "I was just lookin' to drop these two off and be on my way, thank you very much." The two Autobot soldiers exchanged glances before the first one shrugged.

"Fine by me," he said just as flatly as Aquajet had spoken not a moment earlier. Aquajet had to admit, these two seemed a bit rude to be Autobots, but oh well. Not like he really knew any to begin with, right?

"Alright, Raven, c'mon, you heard 'im," Aquajet sighed, gesturing the mechling to come out of hiding as he stepped forward, all ready to hand the second mech Blackbird and then promptly leave them be, hopefully to never see them again.

"Finally," said Raven, sounded relieved as he strutted out from his hiding place, trying not to show that he had stumbled a few times along the way while walking to the two mechs that were going to be taking him to a safe place. "At least now we can get in on _real_ action."

At that his brother whimpered, and the first mech snickered at the youngling's remark, however said nothing. When the oldest mechling managed to finally make his way over to the two mechs, looking more smug about the situation than he should have been about the situation, the light colored mech stepped forward, gesturing for the second mech to take the youngest twin from his arms, and the mech did so willingly. However what the younger mechling did surprised even Aquajet; when the second mech reached out to take the youngling from him, Blackbird whimpered before clutching tightly onto the mech's arm, even when the other mech grabbed firmly a hold of him and tried to take him.

"I, uh, don't think this is going to work," proclaimed the second mech after finally giving up on taking the youngest mechling from Aquajet and simply gently placing him back in the light colored mech's arm. Blackbird instantly whimpered and curled into the mech's chassis, giving the other two mechs a frightened look.

"So what, ya gonna leave the kid with him, then?" snorted the other mech, crossing his arms over his chassis as Blackbird leaned over Aquajet's arms to get a better view of his brother; Raven was giving a stern and annoyed look at his brother as their optics met, however not a word was said between the two out loud. They were most likely talking through their twin bond, guessed Aquajet mentally. He snapped the youngest twin out of it when he spoke to him.

"And you think yer stayin' with me?" he asked, looking down at the mechling in his arms, who looked at him sheepishly in return. "Ya know ya can't stay wit' me, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…," trailed off the younger mechling, slinking down in the mech's arms as he looked down to his servos instead of the mech's face.

"Well, would it hurt for you to at least stay the night with our convoy?" asked the second mech innocently, giving a shrug. "One night wouldn't hurt, right? At least that way we could get both of the twins there safely and all."

The first mech scoffed at his companion's words, however was silenced with a glare from him before he looked back to Aquajet with a questioning glance; Blackbird again resting his helm against Aquajet's chassis. Aquajet inwardly grumbled as he looked down to the mechling he was holding, slightly annoyed by the fact that Blackbird was actually clinging onto him already; he didn't need a sparkling clinging to him like this when he was trying to get away, much less _two_. And he couldn't risk going with these two in order to just get ride of the duo. But seeing as how if he didn't, he might get stuck with them - he had heard that twins rarely were separated, due to reasons he hadn't yet been able to understand, even with good explanations from someone like Soundwave - and he could at least spend a few hours in one spot until darkness fell and everyone was asleep; and only then could he escape without anyone knowing.

So then what was the problem? At the moment, it seemed less risky than anything else. So, almost against his better intentions, he went along with going with them, if it only meant that he would be getting rid of the twin terrors.

* * *

><p>Over two thousand words in this chapter. Lord save me.<p> 


	16. Part Sixteen

The convoy was _anything_ but bit. In fact, it was quite the opposite; counting the two mechs that had brought them there, there were only about eight or ten mechs. Not a lot of fire power, Aquajet concluded, if they got ambush or something like that. At least he was leaving when no one else would see him go; that way he wouldn't have to go through all that. Unless they were attacked sooner than he had thought, of course. The thought just made Aquajet more edgy and more alert, which in turn seemed to make Blackbird a little more scared and only cling to him tighter. Aquajet really didn't mind the clinginess, actually; it quite amused him, really, and it seemed to comfort the youngest twin.

When they had arrived, Aquajet managed to make his way through the small convoy - a few of the bots trying to coo over the mechlings that he had. Raven had willingly followed him when he went to walked to a secluded place; he seemed just as weary about so many mechs being in one place than Aquajet did. That, and Blackbird kept whimpering and clinging tighter to the mech that held him, making Aquajet believe that he perhaps had _asked_ for his brother to follow them, if for the fact that perhaps it would calm him down. When they were settled, a mech had asked if they wanted anything to eat; they had spare rations they could give. Aquajet had politely declined - strangely enough - and had informed the mech who had asked him that he had his own cube of Energon that he could drink, however guessed that the younglings were hungrier than he was; his guess had been fueled by, when the mech had approached him and asked him if he wanted any rations, Blackbird leaned up and gazed at the other mech, obviously asking with a glance if he would get any of those rations, too. However, Raven had instantly declined the rations as well, stating that they could share with Aquajet. When the mech turned and left, the colored mech instantly began to grumble, squinting down at the twin who seemed so close beside him.

"I hate you, you know that?" he grumbled, shifting Blackbird in his arms as he opened his storage compartment and took out the cube of Energon. Raven merely smiled widely at the thrown insult, looking as if he has been taking it as a complement. Aquajet merely shook his helm before gesturing the cube to the mechling in his arms. "Here," he muttered, tipping the cube so that he could take a drink of it.

Blackbird looked at him for a moment, as if contemplating weather or not to take a drink, before deciding that the Energon was okay, and, grabbing the cube gently, tipped it slightly and began drinking the liquid substance. Blackbird must have been hungry, for when he couldn't reach any Energon; he kept tipping it upwards further, making Aquajet worry that he might spill it on himself at any moment.

"Alright, alright," said Aquajet as he gently took the cube away from the mechling, much to his displeasure.

Before handing it off to Raven, he couldn't help but eye it; before he had given it to Blackbird, it was full. Now it was only half way full. Grumbling and giving the mechling in his arms a look - Blackbird shrank slightly and gave a sheepish smile - before handing the cube off to Raven, however still keeping a servo on it. Raven seemed just as hungry as his brother; gulping it down as quickly as he could before Aquajet tried to take it away from him. When the cube was nearly empty, the oldest twin instantly pushed it away from himself, gesturing the cube back to Aquajet. The light colored mech merely took the cube without a word, however gave the same look to the mechling as he had given to his twin - Raven trying to give him the look back, however utterly failing in Aquajet's optics, the mech trying not to smirk - and viewing what was left in the cube; not much, but enough. He would have hated to ask the other mechs for some rations, therefore shut up and drank the rest that was in there, knowing that he could simply steal what he wanted later that night, when everyone was asleep.

And the saddest part was that he wouldn't feel any remorse in doing so.

**XXX**

Night came quicker than he had expected for Aquajet; he had gotten little sleep, mostly on purpose, and yet still seemed prepared for the night that had engulfed the little camp that he was in. They were in a cluster of buildings, unable to be seen unless someone came close enough, and that was alright for Aquajet, at least until now. When he made sure everyone was asleep, Aquajet started the slow and grim process of trying to get out of his bed and to start packing.

The saddest thing about the twin mechlings was that they were becoming quite attached to him ever since he had saved their lives back at their home. Blackbird had taken it upon himself to sleep on the mech's chassis, curled up on it happily. He had fallen asleep quickly in that position, which Aquajet did not mind, as long as he fell asleep. Raven had curled up into his side under the covered, clinging to the mech's armor, and often muttering or even crying his sleep. Against his will, Aquajet made it his business to comfort the crying sparkling every time he began crying, by talking to him quietly and rubbing his back gently, which all easily seemed to comfort him, however at the cost of him clinging tighter to his frame.

When Aquajet finally got out of the old, laying the mechlings on the makeshift berth, laying their helms on the pillow and covering them up with the blanket, Aquajet got to work packing what he needed before he left. Aquajet grabbed a spare blanket he was sure that no one would miss, and quietly set to work grabbing stuff that he needed; a couple cubes of Energon would last him a few days or so, and even before then he could grab some more if he needed to. He also found some ammo for his gun, so at least that way he wouldn't run out any time soon. When he was sure no one was awake - he had been really quiet as he packed everything that he needed - Aquajet silently slunk off, knowing that he was going to be happily on his way once he was out of the city. Well, as far as he thought.

He was already near part of the outer city, silently walking along and make sure to stick to the shadows so that no one saw him, when he heard footsteps running quickly, as if they were trying to catch up to him. He didn't even have time to pause and wonder what the frag it was.

"Aquajet, wait!" panted a familiar voice, trying to stay low for obvious reasons. Instantly the mech spun around on his heel, only to see Blackbird running towards him, finally stopped a few feet from the mech and quickly bending over, placing his servos on his knees. "I finally…. Caught up…. With you," he panted out, the run obviously taking it out of him.

"What are you _doing_ here?" hissed Aquajet, quickly examining his surroundings to make sure that no one was nearby; he knew that there wasn't, but he didn't want to risk the mechling's life just because he had been stupid. Blackbird finally stood up, looking at the mech with the same sheepish look that he had given him earlier.

"I-I just wanted to know…. Why are you leaving?" he asked earnestly, a glint of sadness playing in his optics. "I-I mean, they _are_ Autobots, and you said that the Autobots were good and all, right? And that they could protect _us_, right? So why are you leaving? Can't they protect you, too?" Aquajet sighed, unable to believe that even he had been that small and young.

"Because, Blackbird," he said, "I'm too old, and what's coming after me, well, I'm sure that no one would be able to protect me from it. It's better that I keep moving and keep everyone else out of my business rather than get any innocent people into it, much less a youngling like you. Now go back to your brother and go back to sleep. And make sure that you don't tell anyone where I'm going. They might try to come after me for being some sort of spy or something."

"W-wait!" cried the youngest twin just as Aquajet went to turn, making the mech flinch at the loud noise the youngling had just made. "W-why can't you just s-stay with us? I-I mean we could probably h-help you and -!"

"Oh, give it up, Blackbird, he's not gonna take us with him! He's a loner, just like sire's sire, and he doesn't want us in the way, you know!" came a voice from behind the youngest twin; Aquajet didn't even flinch at the voice, partly glad that the oldest twin had come along. Blackbird, however, gasped, and spun around on his heels to face his brother, who was looking at him with arms crossed and a truly serious look in his optics.

"B-but, we can't just leave him alone!" cried the youngest mech; Aquajet was contemplating on simply turning and leaving while they were having this conversation, however he didn't want to leave the two there all alone; what if they didn't find their way back to the convoy, and something bad happened to them and it was all his fault?

"And you think that he won't be fine on his own?" retorted Raven, narrowing his optics. "That and we can't just go runnin' off and all that? Remember about wantin' t' join the Autobots and all? Well we can do that now! We can go to where ever they want us to go, and when we're old enough, we can go and sign up for the army! Ma and Pa can't say no, and it's a really good choice!"

Aquajet smirked at the conversation unfolding before him; it was cute how they wanted to join the Autobot cause and try and join the military and all. They were brave little things, they were. At least Raven was, willing to join an army because it seemed like the right thing to do and they had nowhere else to go. Aquajet almost wanted to state that that wasn't true, and they _did_ have somewhere to go, but thought better not to, because he didn't want them to think that he was offering a place to stay with them. At Raven's retort, Blackbird sniffled and looked to the ground, kicking up some dirt and soot.

"Yeah, well," he muttered, intertwining his servos behind his back. Obviously, he couldn't think of a good comeback for his brother. Raven smirked in victory, and Aquajet gave a saddened look before trying to speak.

"You'd only get yourselves hurt if you came with me," he explained, finally trying to turn to leave yet again. "It'd be better if you two just went back and do what your brother was planning. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me, actually." There was a whimper from the youngest twin, and Raven started to say something before he was cut off.

"W-wait, mister!" Blackbird cried out, and Aquajet again stopped; however did not turn around like he had did before, only turning his helm to one side as he listened. "W-why can't we go with you? I-I… I don't trust those other mechs, because of what happened and all, b-but… I trust you, even though I haven't known you for that long. A-and if we travel with you, m-maybe we can learn more before joining in the army, right? Please?"

"Are you crazy? We could -!" started Raven, however was instantly cut off by his brother spinning around, tears running down his already stained face.

"And you're willing to trust a bunch of people in the middle of a _war_?" he shouted, crying; Raven instantly gave his brother a saddened and pained look, looking as if he was feeling his brother's pain even more so than he brother was. "M-mama s-said that w-we couldn't fight 'cause we was too y-young and s-she didn't w-wanna loose us a-and what'll she t-think if we join the Matrix early and we n-never get the life that she wanted?" Raven looked offended that his brother would say something like that to him at all, and instantly opened his mouth to try and retort to what his brother had said to him; a distant voice again cutting him off.

"Hey, you guys hear that?" shouted a voice form somewhere a good distance away, making the trio quiet down and look in the direction of where the voice was coming from; looking like deer in the headlights of a car. "I think I heard some voices this way. Think we should go check it out?"

"We'd better, don't need no 'bot wondering around here," said a second voice. "Lord Megatron wouldn't want us letting them go off on their own and all."

Instantly Aquajet panicked; in a flash his make shift bag was over his shoulder and he made a dash for the sparklings, picking them both up quickly. Both barely had time to squeak as Aquajet turned and dashed off, maneuvering through the rubble of the broken city and not stopping until they had reached a forest-looking area, overgrown in cyber-genetic weeds and vines. The voices were distant, however shouting loudly in panic, making Aquajet worry that they had been spotting while trying to get away. Instantly Aquajet set the mechlings gently on the ground, Aquajet looked over his shoulder before placing his make shift pack on the ground, obviously trying to catch his intakes before he did anything more.

"That was _awesome_," cackled Raven, falling onto the ground with laughter as he grabbed his fuel tanks. "W-we gonna do that again!"

Blackbird still seemed dazed by what had just happened, looking at his surroundings with confusion and dizziness. Aquajet sighed, knowing that it would take it a helluva lot longer to get them back to safety than he thought. Gah, why the frag did he have to have a _spark_? Oh, that was right, he needed it to live. Frag. His life was just _not_ going to get any better than this, was it? Didn't seem like it, Aquajet thought himself as he looked over the two mechlings, one laughing his aft off and the other finally coming back form his utter confusion.

"You…. You saved us?" asked Blackbird as he looked up to the mech with an even more confused look than he had before, seeming to realize what those voices had been saying. "W-why? I thought that you didn't want us around." Aquajet merely sighed at that question, squatting down and throwing an arm over each leg as he thought.

"Because I'm not as sparkless as many think of him," he explained slowly, examining the two as Raven seemed to finally slow down from the laughing fit that he had going on. "You know…. I have to agree with Blackbird when he said that joining the war wasn't a good idea," he said. "Many good bots die in war, and you two seem like really nice mechs. You two could probably do better than that when you're older, honestly." Raven snorted and sat up.

"Yeah, well, then how're we gonna help the cause?" he asked in a serious tone, Aquajet raising an optic ridge at said tone.

"There's plenty of other ways to help 'the cause,' I'm sure, mechling," he stated flatly, smirking as Raven puffed out his chest in a forward manner.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, in all seriousness. "Like _how_?"

Aquajet stared for a moment staring as he tried to think of many good reasons. He hadn't gotten much into the war and all, seeing as he would rather run and stay away from his captors and all. This was hard, now that he thought about it. There were only a few jobs that he _really_ knew of, and most of them would instantly bore the mechlings into nonexistence. Who knew convincing a mechling like this would be so fragging hard? He sure didn't.

"Well, you could always help with weapons and shipping," he said at last, finally finding something fit that they might be interested in. However Raven pouted at the thought, giving the mech a sad look at the thought.

"But _that_ doesn't sound fun!" he whined, pouting even more when Aquajet gave him a stern look.

"Well I it's better than war!" he stated, his retort seeming to get Blackbird more than his brother; Raven was a tough fragger, wasn't he?

"Well, what do _you_ do, mister?" asked Blackbird curiously, standing up on his peds along with his brother, his helm cocked to his helm to one side. Aquajet instantly tuned his face away, now feeling ashamed as thoughts rolling through his processor.

"I… Let's just say that I that I helped get some new information for some scientists," he replied, being as truthful as he could be without telling them too much of the truth and scaring them our of their frames. They had already seen their parents die before their optics; they didn't need to hear about anything worse than that. At the sentence, Blackbird got a curious expression on his face.

"Really?" he asked, sounding genuily interested. "That sounds pretty cool! What _kind_ of scientists, huh? Were they cool? What kinda experiments did they do?"

"They probably weren't cool," scoffed Raven, crossing his arms over his chest in an uninterested manner. "They just probably built _weapons_ and all. Shipped them places." Aquajet scowled and gave the mechling a look, and was about to scold him for his behavior, when they heard the distant shouting come closer, seeming to make Aquajet panic a bit. Looking over the mechlings again, the light colored mech finally sighed.

"Listen," he spoke quietly, getting the mechling's attention. "If I let you two travel with me, at least until I can find somewhere to place you, will you be good and not act out and all? Because if you do, I swear to Primus that I'll dump you in Decepticon territory and let them do as they please with you." Not like he really would, but that seemed to get their attention. Blackbird nodded happily, however Raven seemed beside himself with the deal. Finally, the older mechling sighed.

"I guess if my brother wants to," he said slowly. "And only because he likes you and all more than the Autobots, alright?" Aquajet nodded his helm, however smiling slightly.

Without another word, Aquajet turned and picked up his makeshift bad, making sure that he still had everything in it before turning back to the younglings. When he held out an arm to gesture the younglings to let him carry them - it was faster to, seeing as how the voices were so close and he could get away faster carrying them - Blackbird instantly rushed forward, nearly tackling the mech as he held tightly onto the mech's chassis. Raven seemed angry that Aquajet would offer such a thing, however a nearby gunshot startled him into jumping into the mech's waiting arm. Holding them close to his frame, he didn't look back as he rushed forward blindly, trying to keep quiet as he tried to get further away form the ones that would hurt them.

And, without knowing it, he held in his arms something that he would later be fighting tooth and nail for; literally. _An_d that he would be willing to do so without a second thought.

* * *

><p>Ffft three thousand words in this chapter, not counting my author's note. Lord, where am I going with this?<p> 


	17. Part Seventeen

"Alright, you two! Quiet it down, or I swear to Primus I'll hang you by your voice compactors from one of those bars!"

Instantly the twins seemed to quiet down their shouting from that threat, however that didn't stop them from snickering and trying to hold back their laughter as they rolled around on the dirty, musky floor, wrestling and playing while their guardian tried to start a fire in order to keep them warm; it would be night in a few hours, after all. A fallen building was keeping them warm, however the cold wind easily got through to them. Aquajet could only wonder _what_ lived on this planet, at least before the Decepticons had gotten to it; he and the twins had stowed away on an Autobot ship in order to get here, stealing a few cubes for themselves in the process. He had often told the duo that they shouldn't steal unless they needed to; and not to steal anything that they did not need. Anything extra would only weigh them down. He had to admit that the duo was smart; or at least Blackbird was, Raven often refusing to listen to his guardian. His loss, Aquajet would simply state, and he knew that he wouldn't feel sorry for him if something bad happened to him because he never listened to his advice.

They were now taking shelter in a destructed farm building or perhaps a barn of some sort, by the looks of it, that was just outside of a nearby town, whose work seemed to be mostly farming, seeing as how a lot of the town was surrounded by farming, and it seemed to be build for such. The building was run down, it's walls fallen partly and it's roof nearly gone due to being weathered. They had to wait to make a fire because of the threat of the Autobots finding them - they were the nice group and all, however Aquajet didn't want to risk anything, seeing as how they could be weary about a mech traveling alone with two sparklings, much less how they got to the planet without a ship of some sort - and even then, the light colored mech was unsure of making a fire in the first place due to the fact that they could be spotted by more than just the Autobots; they hadn't a clue as to who else was still on the planet, honestly. But, seeing as how they really only had one blanket that was by all means a piece of slag, and not wanting the two mechlings to freeze, he knew that it would be a better idea to start a fire, at least near dusk were no one would see the smoke rising. And he currently did _not_ want a couple of whining mechlings tonight.

It had been how long now? Nearly a year and a half since he had rescued the two from their deaths to the Decepticons? They were just lucky that they didn't share the same fate as their family had; Aquajet had gotten there a little too late in order to try and save their afts, making the mechlings lucky. He had never gotten to getting them to a safe place where they could grow up and all, and, while still on Cybertron and even still now, the longer the two spent time with him, the more they seemed to become attached to him, acting as if he was family. Blackbird especially; often the younger twin would sleep literally on top of the mech every night, usually on his chassis curled into it. It was apparent that the sound of his beating spark comforted the youngest mechling to sleep more than his twin. Aquajet had heard that often that if a sparkling or youngling was separated from their creators, or their creators were killed, their bond with them was them was broken, that they might forage a new type bond with a bot that they were around the longest or who had adopted them or something. Aquajet didn't doubt that; even Raven had seemed to become attached to Aquajet more and more as the weeks went on, and often clinged to him when a stranger approached rather than trying to protect his younger brother, even though the youngest twin had often did the same. Often Blackbird did that when something scared him, mostly because he saw Aquajet as a better shield than his brother.

Not that he didn't mind; he never said it aloud, but Aquajet truly did care for the twins. Although he could be harsh with them, he was only trying to keep their best in mind. He had adopted them without knowing it, and he didn't mind that. He just wanted a better life for them, that wasn't his, and often tried to give it to them. He felt bad for keeping them and not being able to find them a place where they could have another family that would take care of them and love them just as well; but strangely enough, they often acted as if he were enough for them, and never complained about where they were going and what they were doing. Just as long as they weren't hungry and cold and got to play around for a little while, they were all good. Aquajet had never raised a sparkling before, much less a youngling. Or two, he should have said; and they were twins, much less. He was a sparkling himself once, and although he thought himself to be a nuisance sometimes, Mindfreak had never once complained.

He realized that the fighting sounds behind him had stopped, leaving only the sound of the twins giggling tremendously in a fit; most likely having gotten tired of their play fighting and leaving them there to only try to catch up on there breathing. Aquajet didn't mind; that gave him more peace and quiet. That, and he was sure that them moving around so much caused him to not be able to make a fire. Well, not really, but it was a good reason to him. Suddenly, there was the sound of scattering peds, and Aquajet barely flinched, only shifting from where he squatted in front of the dried drift wood he found that he was trying to make a fire with. Suddenly, something was grabbing his right leg, and he looked over to see Blackbird clutching, looking at the pile of wood before he and his guardian that had yet to radiate warmth.

"Not gettin' anything?" asked the youngest twin innocently, looking up with the same look his voice held when he spoke. Aquajet sighed and shook his helm, looking back down to the fire as he spoke.

"I'm not much of a builder anything, really," Aquajet responded, dropping the stick that he had been using in order to light the wood onto the pile, giving up on trying to make a fire for now. "Nor can I get anything to _light_, either, as you can oh so tell." Blackbird giggled at that comment, and, although he gave the mechling an annoyed glance, Aquajet couldn't hold back the smile that formed on his lips from the childish giggle. "Guess we're just gonna have to use the blanket tonight," sighed Aquajet as he stood up, Blackbird keeping a hold of his lower leg for a moment, staring up at him as if trying to think of something, before letting it go.

"I don't mind cuddling," giggled Blackbird as he quickly dashed back to his brother as Aquajet turned around to face where they had been playing behind him; the youngest twin tackling his brother, who had been resting on his back on the ground before the assault.

"Oof!" breathed out Raven as his stomach was landed on by the better part of his brother's frame looking almost injured from the attack; Blackbird giggling his sweet little frame off at making hi brother make a funny sound. "Blackbird, get off!" whined the older mech after a moment, now trying to push his brother off of him. "I'm _tired_!"

"Alright, off," ordered Aquajet as he passed them, only pausing to nudge the youngest twin in order to emphasis his order. "Otherwise you won't get anything to eat tonight." He was only joking, of course, but it never hurt to threaten someone with something that they wanted.

"Eat?" asked Blackbird, looking up at the retreating form, before quickly leaping to his peds and following him, stepping on his brother's stomach - on accident - in the process. Raven gave out a groan and clutched his fuel pumps, rolling onto his side as Blackbird caught up to Aquajet, who was now kneeling down and rummaging through their makeshift bag. "I'm really hungry. Can I eat?" asked Blackbird in a nearly begging voice, leaning over to see what Aquajet was looking for.

"No, you can't," replied Aquajet sarcastically, making Blackbird pout at said sarcasm; however Aquajet pulled out a half filled cube and gestured it to the youngest twin. Happily, he took it from the mech, dashing over to where his brother sat, still clutching his fuel pumps, and plopped down, chugging away. Aquajet smiled; younglings were entertaining.

They had gotten enough cubes for each of them to last them at least a week, until they found somewhere else to go to, if they didn't hog it down within the first few days. Aquajet almost felt bad stealing down, but as he stated before, it only wasn't right if you were stealing for the fun of it or you didn't need the object you were stealing. He stole for survival; he and the twins needed to eat, and didn't have much credits - if they ever did; Aquajet often worked odd jobs back on Cybertron in order to get credits, however they went fast when he picked up Blackbird and Raven - if ever any. He wasn't saying that stealing was right either way, oh no; there was just a difference of stealing for fun and stealing what you needed to survive if you couldn't live like most others could. They had never gotten caught, thank Primus, and he was sure that he wouldn't be able to plead his case to any kind of official. Blackbird and Raven probably would have been sent somewhere if they have, and, with Aquajet's luck, he'd be put in jail for a long time; only to get caught by the Decepticons again.

Sighing, he grabbed two more cubes out and headed to where the twins sat; Blackbird blabbering away to his brother as he ate. After handing off a cube to Raven - who took it smugly; a servo still placed on his fuel tanks showing that his brother had got him pretty good - Aquajet went back to his little pile of drift wood, hoping to try again at getting the warmth he knew that he and his kin would need that night. He didn't know how cold it would get at night at this strange planet, however he did not want to try and risk anything. He had only grown up on Cybertron, and knew little of the other planets that that were in their galaxy, much less the entire universe. That, and he was sure that the twins would get cold quickly that night with such a thin blanket, no matter if they curled into his frame for warmth. He often worried for their health, since they never went to a medic for check ups or anything. So being too cold could mean some sort of virus, and although he was sure that he could make up some lie about him being their legal guardian or even sire and the twins going along with it, he just didn't want to take the risk.

At the moment, it seemed that these two were the only things that he had to fight for anymore, and he didn't want to loose them. Not yet.

* * *

><p>Ya see, AJ <em>does<em> have a spark. Sometimes.


	18. Part Eighteen

That night, there were no clouds in the sky, and, with the roof being pretty much caved in and taken out of the way for sunlight and moonlight alike to shine through, Aquajet could see the sky from where he lay on their now makeshift berth, which was a bunch of hay fluffed up to make a berth for he and the sparklings; he had found some stored in the barn where the roof and the walls were not caved in and laid it down on the floor where he and the mechlings were sleeping, making sure not to get any near their fire. Aquajet lay on his back, one servo behind his helm and the other around Raven, who lay with his digits intertwined with his side armor, laying nearest to the fire. Blackbird, per usual, laid on his guardian's chassis, curled up into it and more covered with the blanket than even Aquajet, breathing ever so slightly and often sleepily rubbing his guardian's chassis from time to time, as if trying to soothe him. There was a dim smile on his lips, and he had a very content look on his face, and every time he looked away from the stars and up at him, Aquajet couldn't help but smile as well. He hated to admit that he liked Blackbird more than Raven; the youngest twin was his favorite, if only because he seemed more innocent than his twin, and tended to listen more without a second thought. He remembered once that he made a promise to himself that he would not get attached to anyone after he left the Decepticon base, and even when he was taken away from Mindfreak and Forest was killed; that anyone who were too close to him would end up getting hurt, which, he never liked to admit even to himself, he was afraid of.

Sighing almost contently, Aquajet rested his helm back down on his servo, looking up at the stars again as he unconsciously held Raven tighter to his side; the older twin muttering something and shifting in his sleep. He had to admit that he never saw himself having any sort of family at all, even though he had once counted Mindfreak and his minicons as such; that no one would ever be able to look at him twice because of how he acted or how he looked. True, the twins didn't know of his _other_ alt mode, and as of the moment, they didn't need to. They had managed to keep away from the Decepticons thus far, and Aquajet didn't want them to get captured if only for the fact that he was worried what they might do to a couple of sparklings. He really did care about them, and he was frightened of what might happen to them if they _did_ get caught, or if they _did_ end up get taken away from him. He didn't have the spark to even find them a better place to stay anymore; Blackbird trusted him so much, something he never thought that he would have form anyone anymore. He had stopped trusting others long along, for fear of being told on or taken in or simply hated for what he was. He had to admit that he trusted Blackbird and Raven - mostly Raven, because, being the older twin, he was more responsible when it came to his brother and such - even the slightest. At that thought, he gently rubbed Raven's back, shifting his servo from under his helm and letting it drape over Blackbird, who shifted and hummed in his sleep at the touch.

He had to admit, the stars above in the sky were beautiful; they shimmered like Blackbird's optics when he saw something pretty or cool, although brighter, and they were more far away, even though they seemed to give off more light than even the sun or the moon. Maybe because there were a lot more of them, and they weren't in just one general area or didn't stick to one general place all day or all night long. Stars were technically suns, weren't they? He never got that naming; if a star was really a sun, why not just call it a sun instead of a star, so you could use the correct term? Scientists were so confusing, weren't they? The longer he stared, the more he thought that he could guess where Cybertron was. He wasn't too good with consolations, however he could guess; Mindfreak used to show him maps of stars from different locations, and he had always wanted to see those from outside. Now, well, they didn't seem as interesting to him anymore; just something to entertain him with, or something that would make him think. Something like that was always good, like something to entertain your servo's with; idle servos were Unicron's workshop, weren't they? He had heard that from somewhere, although he couldn't remember where exactly. He had heard so much stuff growing up, he was sure that thinking about it made his helm spin.

Suddenly, and oh so quietly, the mechling lying on his chassis began to move more than he should have been if he had been simply been moving in his sleep, and Aquajet curiously looked down at him quietly, at first thinking that perhaps something was wrong with him, or at least at first believing that he was having a nightmare of the sorts. Either twin had had a lot of those when they had first joined him - them mostly being on their parents being killed - and Aquajet had to always comfort them if the other twin wasn't awake to do so. Blackbird gave a yawn and slowly shifted onto his stomach, then propped himself up with his elbows, his optics still offlined for the longest time as his helm was bowed in a tired manner, as if it had been against his will to do all of this. Finally, Blackbird lifted his helm and rubbed his optics with his fists, sighing lightly before he spoke, his optics barely offlined as he tried to look up to his guardian's helm in the darkness of the night.

"Aquajet?" he asked in a quiet yet hoarse voice, almost sounding as if he were about to cry for some reason. Gently Aquajet lifted the servo he had on the youngest twin's back and rubbed the back of the black mechling's helm, comforting him and making him offline his optics again as his helm dipped down slightly, enjoying the touch.

"Somethin' wrong, youngling?" asked Aquajet just as quietly, not wanting to wake the twin that was clutched to his side, still in a deep recharge. While Aquajet still rubbed his helm, Blackbird looked back to Aquajet, looking confused for a moment as if forgetting what he was going to say to him upon awaking. Then he yawned.

"Why're you still awake?" asked the youngest twin, shaking his helm to make the rubbing on his helm stop; however the servo was still stuck to the youngest twin's helm. "Shouldn't you be asleep like us?" Blackbird asked, now looking slightly concerned. Aquajet smiled at that.

"Just couldn't sleep, kiddo," he informed, looking back up at the stars for a moment before looking back to the youngling. "You should probably go back to sleep now," Aquajet informed. "We'll most likely have a long day tomorrow. You'll need your rest."

"Well I can't sleep _now_," whined Blackbird quietly, tilting his helm to one side. "Not while you're still awake and all. I'd feel bad if I left you all by yourself and all." Smiling more, Aquajet rolled his optics, as if annoyed with the youngling's persistence. Blackbird pouted and said, "I'll be quiet, I promise, AJ! Please let me stay up!"

"Oh, alright, alright," said Aquajet finally after a moment of thought, as if it had been hard to make a descion. "Just don't wake up you're brother, okay?"

Blackbird made an excited noise and nodded, Aquajet merely smiling and pulling up the blanket over the mechling's shoulders before resting his servo on the mechling's back and gazed back up at the stars above him; Blackbird resting the side of his helm on his guardian's chassis. There was the longest silence between the two as Blackbird relaxed again, for a moment Aquajet believing that he had fallen back asleep because he was so quiet. Finally, however, the youngest twin must have gotten curious as to what Aquajet what looking at; he got back on his elbows again, looking at his guardian for the longest time in confusion, before scooting up so that his helm would rest on the dip meet chassis to neck and flipping to his back, wrapping himself in the blanket as he rested his helm down silently. Aquajet smiled and rested his servo back on the youngest twin's fuel pumps, Blackbird struggling to pull his arms out of the blanket before resting his servos across his guardian's slightly larger one.

"Why ya lookin' at the stars, Aquajet?" asked Blackbird after another long silence, moving his helm so that he was looking at Aquajet in an upside down manner. Aquajet smiled down at him, reaching up to flick the youngest twin's chin - earning a laugh from said twin - before resting it back down and looking back up at the stars.

"Because they're actually really nice to look at," stated Aquajet, blue-green optics slightly reflecting the light coming down onto them. Blackbird looked back up at them as well, regarding them for the longest time, obviously trying to see what his guardian saw in them.

"They _are_ really nice," Blackbird agreed, smiling slightly as he tried to recognize consolations that his grandsire had once pointed out to he and his brother when they were little, and sitting atop their roof looking at their stars. The stars here were different, however, he quickly realized, and he couldn't find any consolations here. Sighing, the youngest twin thought for a moment before looking back up at Aquajet and asked, "Aquajet? Do you think my mama and papa and grandsire and sister all went to the Matrix, or did they go to the Pit with Unicron?"

Aquajet looked at the youngest twin with an astonished look before stating, "Why the Matrix, of course! Where did you ever get the idea to start thinking like that?"

Aquajet wasn't too big of a religious kind of mech, and never had been; perhaps because he had never been raised with it. That, and, well, with his life, he had all right to believe that Primus had dumped him at the edge of the Pit long ago, Unicron probably waiting for him to fall into a vulnerable moment so that he could snatch him away forever. Blackbird and Raven didn't seem like they were so, even though a couple times at the beginning when he was _first_ stuck with the twins he caught Blackbird praying in a private place; overhearing him "talking" to Primus about his family and asking Primus that they go to a good place. He had never told the twins otherwise about Primus or Unicron, but he was willing to make them feel better and say that there at least was a Primus and a Matrix, if at least to make them happy. Blackbird looked at him weakly, before looking at his own chassis.

"Oh, I was just thinking," he stated, looking back up to the stars, "because of what my mama used to tell me." Aquajet looked back up to the stars now, too, curious.

"What did she used to tell you?" Aquajet asked, his curiosity showing in his voice. There was a long silence, as if Blackbird wasn't sure what so say, before nodding, as if agreeing to something in his processor.

"She used t' tell me, and Raven, too, that when someone dies, they turn int' stars an' watch over the people that they care about that're still alive," he explained, ending while he was nearly out of breath because he seemed to speak too much too slow at once. Aquajet smiled at that, looking up to the stars after he heard that.

"That seems like a nice place to go," mused Aquajet as he examined the stars in the sky, talking to himself rather than Blackbird. He couldn't help but smile to himself as well; that _did_ sound like a really good place to go. Too bad Mindfreak never told him that; he probably would have believed that until this day, believe it or not.

"Yeah," yawned the youngest twin in agreement, moving around on his guardian's chassis so that he was lying on his side again, fully wrapping himself in the blanket. Aquajet was lucky that he was pretty warm, otherwise he'd regretfully be taking some of the blanket back from the youngling. "You know, I'm glad you found us when you did, AJ," Blackbird went on in a tired voice, sounding as if he were threatening to fall asleep. "I'm sure mama and papa would like you. I know I like you a whole lot. I'm glad you took us in, Aquajet. You kind of remind me of my grandsire. Strong -," yawn, " - brave, smart, and -," sniffle, big yawn, " - and really nice, too. Thanks a lot for takin' us in an' all. G'night -," yawn, "- AJ."

AJ smiled at all those words, gently patting the smaller body with his servo before placing it on the youngling almost protectively, rubbing his side gently.

"G'night, Blackbird," he replied.

Making sure that the mechling was fully covered up, Aquajet relaxed; within moments, Blackbird had fallen asleep, snoring slightly. To his side, Raven sighed in his sleep and tried to wiggle further into Aquajet's side, clutching onto it a little lighter as he seemed to feel his brother's relaxation through their bond. Aquajet bit his bottom lip as he looked back up to the sky, the fire beside them going dim as it slowly began to burn out. Blackbird had a way with words; and Aquajet was sure that he could perhaps let the youngest twin get away with murder with both them and his looks. He was wrapped around his little finger now, wasn't he?

Yes, he was sure that he did.


	19. Part Nineteen

Aquajet woke with a start; his breathing labored and an arm wrapped tightly around each twin as they clung to him. It was dark out; the fire had gone out, and a cold wind blew through the building. While Blackbird slept warmly on his chassis, wrapped up in the blanket, Raven was shivering beside him, trying to get closer than he could to the mech. Sighing, Aquajet sat up, taking both mechlings with him. He pulled Raven to his front, before setting both in his lap quietly. When both were laid down, Raven moved around in his slumber until he was cuddling up to his warmer brother. After staring down at the two for a moment, Aquajet sighed; they just _had_ to act all cute and all, didn't they? Slowly, he began trying to unwrap Blackbird from his warmth, feeling bad about it. As he did so, he shifted, setting the two on their makeshift hay berth below them; Raven seeming to like the feel of being more on it than he had been. When Aquajet finally managed to get Blackbird out of the blanket, not waking him up in the process; then covering them both up, making sure to tuck them in. As id realizing that he was next to his brother and could feel him, Blackbird moved so that he could latch on to the older twin, acting as if he were searching for warmth.

Aquajet smiled to himself; seeing the two almost made him want to have a twin. _Almost_. Looking around, he realized that it was still pretty dark; it would probably be so for a few hours more, if not less than that. The fire looked as if it had gone out long ago, and, seeing as how he wasn't going to get any of the blanket any time soon, took one last scan around their perimeter before standing and turning; he had remembered that there was some slightly burnt wood lying around the barn while it was still light out, however it was going to be hard to see in the darkness and all; he didn't want to risk turning on his head lights and someone spotting him, so he would just have to risk it. He couldn't help but slightly worry about the twins, too; although he would know if someone was approaching them - due to his second alt mode, he had better hearing than most even in his protoform if it was quiet enough to locate in on something - his audios often hurt in large crowds - if he wanted to or often spooked at sudden noises - and would probably be quicker than the said intruder.

It took a while, but he finally found where the wood was laying; he had tripped and stumbled and even hurt himself a few times, often cursing quietly because of the pain. When Soundwave was constructing him and his different frames, he seemed to forget that he needed night vision in order to see at night. The dumbaft, forgetting things that were _actually_ important in real life. He couldn't help but wonder how much of a _nerd_ Soundwave was; he barely ever saw him out of his lab, and when he was, he was basically being Megatron's bitch. Not that Starscream wasn't, although he had never met the seeker in person, and never planned on it, either. Seeing - or rather feeling - that the slightly burned planks of wood were too long, Aquajet sighed in annoyance and rolling his optics; this was going to take longer than he that. He paused for a moment, making sure that he didn't hear anyone stalking around, or even Blackbird and Raven awake and worrying as to why it was dark and their guardian was not around, and when he didn't, he quietly got to his work; breaking the wood over his leg, and surely getting splinters in his joints in the process.

He never got the point of wood at first, or rather at all, really; it broke easily - at least for a Cybertronian - and it rotted in the weather, especially from rain, and most of all, it burned quite easily if you set it on fire. It took a long time for metal to break against the weather, and it never rotted - as far as Aquajet knew, unless you counted rusting as rotting, which, back on Cybertron, seemed to take longer for it to do so than most metal that he had encountered; that, and they never had rain but once in forever; Aquajet was sure that it never rained at all on Cybertron, actually. And most of all, it couldn't catch on fire easily like wood could. The most it could do was heat up to where you couldn't touch it, and, at the worse, melt slowly or something worse. Sure, wood kept you warm on organic planets like this; by Cybertron wasn't an organic planet. Aquajet was sure that it was warmer than this planet - or perhaps any other planet that he had been informed of - and perhaps by far. Sure, their planet was made of metal, but they knew how to keep it warm better than most species.

As Aquajet finished breaking up the pieces of wood when he hear some noises from the outside of the barn. Aquajet paused and listened harder, however after a moment of hearing nothing, the light colored mech went back to work, however kept an audio out for anything else. Moments passed with only the noise of the wind passing by the old barn and through it, and him easily breaking the old seeming wood, when he heard the noise again; except this time, it was closer then it had been. Quietly placing the wood in his servos on the ground, Aquajet curiously walked to the nearest exit, which happened to be a blown in all. Carefully trekking through the rubble, Aquajet cautiously peeked through the opening to the outside. He saw nothing, and with a shrug he made his way back to his working spot. However, the noise didn't stop; it sounded like quiet whispers and ped steps, and instantly Aquajet stopped; it sounded as if it were coming from where the mechlings were sleeping. And it didn't sound like _they_ were talking.

Wasting no time, Aquajet dashed to where he and the twins had been sleeping, his spark thudding louder than it should have been. When he managed himself behind a large pillar keeping one section of the roof up, his spark stopped in his chassis; a mech by the looks of it was kneeling over the sleeping mechlings, looking at them curiously as if he had not seen a thing like them before. And, in the dim moonlight, Aquajet had to admit that he did not too look too friendly. And even if he was, he didn't want anyone that close to _his_ younglings.

"Hey!" he shouted loudly as he dashed out from behind the pillar to confront the other mech, an angered - or rather pissed off - expression on his face plates. The mech instantly looked up at Aquajet, a slightly surprised expression playing on his optics, as the mechlings began to shift in their sleep. "You get away from them or I swear to Primus I'll -!"

There was a sudden sound to his right, and before Aquajet could react, his world went blacker than it should have been; the frightened cry of one - or both of the mechlings - as his unconious form hit the ground below; nothing except for the pain of the hit registering in his processor.


	20. Part Twenty

His processor ached more than should have; he couldn't see, nor could he realize what was going on around him. Where was he? How did he get there? _Why_ was he there? All the light colored mech could do was groan, trying to move his limbs to no avail. He couldn't remember much of what went on, and it took him a moment to realize that he was lying on something cold and damp, and he didn't like the feeling at all. Why was it cold in the first place? Hadn't he been somewhere _warm_? And why was his processor aching? After a moment, the mech gave a groan and tried to shake his helm - he had _thought_ that he did, but it was hard to tell - and touched his forehelm with a palm of a servo, although for a moment he couldn't tell which one. And then there was a sudden cry - one that he was sure wasn't his - that made him jump, and groggily look towards where it came from as something small his upper chassis.

"Aquajet! You're okay! Thank _Primus_ you're okay!" cried a small voice that he now recognized as Blackbird as the small sparkling held tightly to his side and chassis, Aquajet wrapping his arm around the younger twin as he continued to cry into his chassis. "We thought you were _dead_! We didn't know what happened! All of a sudden these mechs came out of nowhere, and they had knocked you out and me and Raven didn't know what to do an-!"

Blackbird squealed in surprise as Aquajet suddenly sat up, the younger twin falling into his guardian's lap as he remembered why he was where ever he was, and what had happened. Looking around with a now sober attitude, Aquajet realized that they were in a jail cell of some sort, and a poorly built one, too; water was leaking everywhere, and the hay in which one would have to use as bedding - there was none other, it seemed - was soaking wet and stuck to the floor; the bars were the only thing that seemed new in the entire place, really, although the walls seemed too reinforced for his liking.

"AJ?" Blackbird whimpered, making the light colored mech look down to him with a slightly tired - though still angered - expression; the smaller twin looking almost too afraid for his own good, really, and, although he wouldn't admit it so, it made his spark clench.

Instantly Aquajet held him closer to his abdomen, looking around for the other twin, which he had guessed wasn't too far away; Blackbird would have been having some sort of fit if he was. A whimper from the same direction that Blackbird came at him from - he was sure, at least - made him turn instantly towards it, trying to fight back the instinct to either lash out or get into a defensive position. Raven was sitting against the wall, legs against his chassis with his arms folded around them, as he looked over to them with an almost frightened look, as if too scared to try and move. Aquajet quickly waved the sparkling to come over, and, for once, Raven did so without hesitation; jumping to his feet and nearly pouncing into hi guardian's lap if it hadn't been for his dignity that he wished to try and spare.

"Aquajet?" asked the older twin as he was pulled closer to his guardian's abdomen as well, before the light colored mech pulled two up to where either of their helms could easily rest onto his shoulders, their bodies against his chassis. "Wh-where are we?"

"Wish I knew," grumbled the mech as he unsteadily got onto his peds without the use of his arms and without dropping either twin; he wobbled a bit, although was able to get to his peds without any more trouble than that. Quietly walking over to the bars that held them in this cell, Aquajet took one good glance around the room before looking to the bars. He was right about one thing; the bars wouldn't be moving any time soon, it seemed, unless, of course, someone had the keys or whatever to open the bars. And that was from the outside, too, it looked like. "Looks like we ain't gettin' outta here anytime soon," Aquajet grumbled as he turned and looked around the room more curiously now - or rather just as distraction, more or less - as he stepped further back in. It wasn't too big, really; could probably nicely fit three or four other bots his size comfortably, although anymore and they would be cramped.

"Aquajet, what're we gonna _do_?" asked Blackbird, clutching tightly onto whatever armor he could get his digits on for comfort. And for that, Aquajet tried to ignore the small pain it was bringing him. "Those mechs that brought us here, they were scary! And I don't think they're any good, either."

"You think?" scoffed Raven, still trying to act like the strong twin he usually was, his arms folded over his small chassis as his small frame leaned against his guardian. He still held a small hint of worry in his optics, though, Aquajet knew him enough to tell that.

That, and as footsteps started approaching them - or so Aquajet thought - Raven jumped, looking towards the cell "door" as his digits instinctively found their way into his armor; both mechling giving a surprised gasp as they held tighter - or at least Blackbird did - onto their guardian's armor. Aquajet, giving a growl, instantly held the twins closer to his chassis, turning away slightly as if trying to hide them from whoever might be walking by; or walking in. For a moment, the footsteps stopped, and for that moment - or rather less than that - Aquajet relaxed, before an amused chuckle echoed through the cell - as well as bouncing off the walls and going further into wherever they were - before a mech stepped into the dim lighting outside the cell; a very smug expression his face plates whistle his arms folded almost calmly across his chassis.

"Looks like our little _guests_ are awake now," he mused, his voice a deep baritone as he looked over the trapped mech and the sparklings that he tried to hide from him while still looking at him to no real avail. "Wondered how long _you'd_ be asleep," the mech went on, now locking optics with a furious Aquajet as he rambled. "Old mech said he didn't want you dead, but the sparklings he really didn't give too much of a care about, really." Blackbird whimpered when he heard that, clutching tighter onto his guardian's frame as he did so; causing Aquajet to scowl more at the other mech.

"Who the frag are _you_?" snapped the light colored mech, taking a cautious step away from the bars, as if afraid that the mech would come at him through the bars at any moment. "And where the frag are we?" At this the mech snorted, as if amused.

"Who am I? That doesn't matter," he said barely shifting back to start back to wherever the frag he seemed to want to go to. "And where you are, well, you'll find that out soon. _Really_ soon, actually. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go collect my _pay_." Without another word, yet an amused chuckle, the mech turned and strided off the way he came, obviously thinking that he had better things to do than mingle with them.

Aquajet would have shouted after him, made him stop and explain himself, however another whimper from Blackbird and a curious yet frightened sound from Raven as he tried to look over if guardian's frame and to where the other mech had went, and if he was really gone, seemed to keep his attention more. At the moment, it seemed that he needed to keep the sparklings calm first. _Then_ - at least he hoped - he would find out where the frag they were and who took them. Hopefully.

* * *

><p>Yes, I KNOW it's taken me a while to update this. But I promise I will be doing better with this, and Forevermore, too. Bear with me!<p> 


	21. Part Twenty One

I thought that it was just about long enough since I've written in this. I feel pretty proud that I've gotten this chapter done, plus two others. I kinda left off at a good part, 'cause now you'll know what's happening a little more. Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Needless to say, his calming mechanisms made him lucky enough to calm down the twins in w matter of an hour or so, at least by his own guessing, and by then they were still sniveling and shaking because of what was going on. Or at least Blackbird was; Raven was obviously trying to be the brave one by putting on such a face and trying to show that he was not scared, which of course was quite the opposite. Aquajet knew how to read them, so it was hard fooling him when they were trying to hide something. Sometimes, at least. Others, not too much.<p>

Sitting there with the twins, at the near far end of the cell with Blackbird sitting in the crook of his arm and holding on rather tight with his tiny servos and arms as much as around his neck as they could get and Raven sitting with his arms crossed in his guardian's lap and leaning against Aquajet's mid section, the light colored mech got some time to think, and think he did. Why was he here? Where were they? Why exactly were they kidnapped? Or just taken, matter of factly; no one knew they were taken, so Aquajet knew that he really couldn't call it being kidnapped. The mech from earlier did not help much; his choosing not to explain making Aquajet have think more about it. Obviously, someone was after them, but at the moment he couldn't think of who. The mech from earlier mentioned - basically - that he might have been working for someone. He called him the "old mech," although Aquajet couldn't think of anyone remotely elderly who was after him.

He really couldn't think of anyone who was after him, really; he was sure Soundwave forgot about him, however he couldn't rule him out as a possibility. That mech was rather sneaky and snide about his work and knew how to get what he wanted and when. Or at least from Aquajet's point of view. And he was sure that if Soundwave knew that he lived through escaping that one raid on the Decepticon base many eons back, he would come looking for him; Aquajet knew no other way of getting off of the planet except for sneaking, and the third in command would probably be sure to keep an audio out for any reports of a strange mech roaming around Cybertron or sneaking onto a ship to get off. Now that he thought about, Aquajet really couldn't rule out Soundwave being a part of this. The mech could have probably easily found him at any point in time if he wanted to, actually, now that he thought about it; planted a tracker in him that he didn't know about or sent spies after him - such as his mincons - to keep close and watch him but make sure not to get caught by him either. But if so, why _now_? Why wait so long before capturing him if it could have been that easy? Unless….

"Aquajet?" came a sniffle from Blackbird, breaking him from his thoughts. Instinctively the light colored mech turned his helm to look at the smaller twin, indicating for him to keep speaking. Rubbing his optics of any tears, Blackbird asked, "W-why are they keeping us here? What'd we ever do t' them? Did we do something wrong?" Aquajet sighed, off lining his optics for a moment before on lining them again and shaking his helm slightly.

"Now that I thought 'bout it, it's rather hard to explain, Blackbird," Aquajet replied, sorrow displaying in his optics as he spoke to the youngest twin.

"Wait! You mean you knew about this?" came a condemning cry from Raven before his twin could speak. Aquajet pursed his lips together in a straight line before looking down to the oldest twin, of whom displayed an obviously hurt look in his optics.

"Not….. _exactly_, Raven," Aquajet said calmly, although frowning at the look that he was being given by the oldest twin.

"Well then what is it?" Raven asked, his voice also portraying the hurt his face plates were showing. "'Cause it sounds a lot like you know why we're here, and you're just not telling us! What? You think we're too young to know or somethin'? 'Cause I can tell ya we're not."

Sighing, Aquajet tried not to let his anger get the better of him, even though Raven was rather getting on his nerves with his hidden accusations and slightly high pitched voice. He couldn't really blame him, though. They _were_ in a terrible situation at the moment, and their lives were at stake. That, if _his_ younger brother were getting even more scared by the moment, he would be quite mad at whomever was watching over him, too.

"It's not that, Raven, it's just…..," Aquajet started, however sighed as he tried to pull himself together. If Soundwave was back and was planning to do something to them, they had a right to know about him and what he did to him, right? At least they would be ready. Inhaling and then once more sighing, Aquajet asked, "You know how I tell you not to trust everyone you come across?"

"Yeah," both of the twins chorused, and it would taken someone well enough to not look at them oddly thinking that they had planned that.

"Well, there's a good reason for that," Aquajet went on, looking at both twins as if making sure that they were both listening. Both intently were, of course. "You see, the reason for that is someone's after me, and -"

"Whoa! Are you a wanted criminal or something?" Blackbird gasped, his tone accusing as his blue optics went large as he went straight to guessing. Aquajet sighed and shrugged.

"Not exactly. But anyway," the light colored mech went on, "someone's after me, or at first I thought. I'm an experimented on mech, meaning I've been worked on. Kinda like how scientists experiment with different things to see which is the best result or what ever?" Both twins nodded. "Well I'm kinda like that, only different."

"How different?" Raven asked, seeming interested enough in the rather true story that he was telling.

"Well, you see, I'm a Morphicon, meaning I -"

Before Aquajet could even remotely finish, pedsteps echoed down the hall like they had before, and instinctively Aquajet held the twins closer to his chassis, moving them around as needed as he quickly jumped to a kneeling position just in case anything happened. A moment later, the same mech from earlier appeared with a rather smug look on his face, however this time he had someone accompanying him. It was another mech, however this one seemed to care less if anything going on around him; face plates straight and seemingly uncaring, arms crossed over his chassis. And he was not the one to do the speaking, either.

"Well, well, looks like we meet again," the previous mech said with a hint of humor in his voice as he looked over Aquajet with a rather amused expression.

Wrinkling his face plates to match the anger that he felt as he held the twins closer to his frame, Aquajet snarled, "What the frag do _you_ want?"

"Tsk tsk, you should watch your anger around the sparklings, you know," the mech stated, shaking his helm. "Wouldn't them picking up any _bad habits_, now would we? Then again, running around with you, I'm sure they've found plenty."

"Frag off," Aquajet could only retort, holding the twins closer as he heard Blackbird whimper against his chassis. The mech merely smiled, seeming pleased with his reaction, before sauntering closer until he was all but touching the bars of the cell.

"You know," the mech drawled, "the old mech sent us in here to retrieve you so he could look you over a bit, and I don't think he'd be too happy if you brought the sparklings along with you. They'd be in the way, if you know what I mean."

Leave them behind? Primus knew he couldn't! He couldn't trust these mechs for all the Energon in the world; he knew that they'd probably take them after he was gone and do Primus knew what to them, and he didn't want to leave them like that, without protection.

"Now, now, mech," said the other mech in a taunting voice, "if you don't do what the old mech asks, I'm sure we'll _all_ be in trouble, won't we? So why don't you just put them down and come with us, hn? That would make our job _much_ easier."

"Aquajet, you're not gonna leave us, are you?" Blackbird whimpered, now looking at his guardian with a more than frightened expression on his face plates.

Looking down, Aquajet had to contemplate; on the one servo, if he left them here, locked up with only a few mechs probably having a pass code or whatever for it, no one else could get to them. _But_, while he was with who ever this mech was trying to take him to, this mech could come in and grab them and be gone before he got back. On the other servo, if he took them with him, he could easily knock these two guys out and escape, even if one of them was holding the two. But then again, he didn't know the place at all, or even if they were on the same planet or anything. And if Soundwave was organizing this whole shindig, well, he was sure that this time, he wouldn't get far; Soundwave was probably expecting him to make a get away, and was probably more prepared this time than the last.

"Well?" the mech asked, tapping his ped on the ground in agitation even though he didn't sound like it. "I'm waiting." Aquajet thought for a moment more before looking back up at the yellow opticed mech, a scowl on his face plates.

"Promise you'll leave 'em both here untouched while I'm gone?" he asked, his voice all too serious. The mech seemed to think about his request for a moment before smirking.

"Well it depends on what the big boss thinks," he stated. "Although, as I said, he requested us to capture _you_ and not the sparklings, so I'm sure he doesn't have any reason for them being here. They'd probably try to escape if we took them out, anyway, right?" There was a slight humor in his voice as he spoke the last part, however it went ignored as Aquajet gently set the sparklings down on the rather murky floor he stood on.

"What ever happens," he said in a low voice as he set them on their peds, much to their disappointment and displeasure, looking up at him with scared optics, "you stay as far back from those bars as you can. Don't go near them, and if someone comes in saying that they're gonna bring you to me, you _don't_ listen to them, alright?"

"But Aquajet, what if -?"

"_Alright_?" Aquajet tried again, more stern and serious than the last time as he cute Raven off. Reluctantly, both nodded. "And if someone comes in here and tries to take you by force," the light colored mech went on, "don't try to put up a fight, okay?" When the twins looked at him in confusion, Aquajet stated, "The more you put up a fight, the more you're gonna get hurt, alright?"

After a moment, they both nodded. Aquajet smirked and put a servo on either of their helms, however the mech at the bars cleared his throat, obviously wanting to waste no more time then he already had. With a scowl on his face plates, Aquajet stood and turned, listening to the scuttling feet of the two sparklings as the instinctively rushed to the corner to hide while their guardian slowly trudged to front of the cell, a more than angered look on his face. The mech seemed pleased, however, going to unlock the cell door as he approached.

"Now don't try anything funny, alright?" the mech asked as he opened the doors rather slowly, as if expected Aquajet to try something, "or we'll have to use force or something worse, okay?"

"Fine, whatever," Aquajet grumbled, and as the cell door opened and he stepped out, he felt a rather strong servo clutch rather tightly onto his shoulder.

The second mech must have been standing farther back than he seemed, or Aquajet must have been farther back in the cell than he remembered, because this mech was taller than he remembered, ruby optics grimacing down at him. When Aquajet tried to pull away, obviously not wanting to be held onto because of the fact that he was willing to go quietly as long as they didn't hurt the twins, another servo grabbed his left wrist and he was forcefully turned down the hallway as his arm was roughly put behind his back.

"Hey!" Aquajet spat as he struggled to get his appendage free from the mech as they began walking away from the cell.

"Easy there tiger," said the first mech as he lead the way, looking over his shoulder at Aquajet as he struggled. "We wouldn't want this to get messy, now, would we? I'm sure that those younglings wouldn't be too happy to know that you were the one that cause trouble for them, right?"

Aquajet stopped struggling - although kept walking along - long enough to try and lurch at the mech in front of him, only to be roughly held onto and pulled back by the mech behind him as he gave the first mech a death look and snarled, "I swear to Primus, if you so much as _look_ at them I will slit your throat open and leave you drain where no one can find you, _do you hear me?_"

"My, my, why we just all act civil?" the mech merely joked, laughing slightly before adding, "We'll just see what the big boss has to say about them, hm?"

Aquajet could only glare at the mech ahead of him as he was roughly pulled to walk straight ahead of the mech behind him, his wrist being tightly held onto while his free fist clenched and unclenched in fuming anger. This day couldn't get anymore fragged up, could it?


	22. Party Twenty Two

He just _had_ to ask if the day could get anymore fragged up, didn't he? Seems the odds were _never_ in his favor, nor were ever going to be.

Compared to the cell, everything else at this place seemed remotely nice; nice enough for him to have considered hiding out in it if the building were abandon and he knew where the frag he was. He was forced to walk down a rather large hall, turn and few corners, and walk down another large hall - trying to map out any escape route in the process - they finally stopped in front of a rather milky white door. While Aquajet was forced to stand in front of it, still being held onto by the bigger mech, the first mech pushed a button of some sort under what appeared to be a communications system of some kind. No voice came out of it however, and instead the door opened in a flash. Without a word, Aquajet was rather rudely shoved in, and he barely got in a shout before the door snapped shut behind him, leaving him in a rather white and bright room.

Aquajet had to squint his optics as they adjusted to the brightness and he tried to looking around the room. Wasn't he in this type of situation before? At least in some sort of bright room of the sorts and all, anyway? It didn't matter, of course, because once he could see clearly, he almost wished that he couldn't. Oh, better be careful of what he thought about, or else _he'd_ find out. He always again.

"Long time no see, you two faced fragger," Aquajet sneered, crossing his arms over his chassis as he looked over the mech sitting in the chair a few times. "Seems time didn't come well t' _you_, did it?"

"Comments: ignored," Soundwave merely droned out, finishing scribbling what ever it was on his data pad before standing up and looking at Aquajet, faceplates expressionless. Then again, he had his face pretty much fully covered with the face mask and optic visor. Did he shrink or something? Or did Aquajet just grow? "Answer: quite obvious," Soundwave said, replying to his thoughts as he reached over to place his data pad on the counter nearby, the comment making Aquajet flinch greatly.

"Let's get down to business, then, 'fore you get all of my _personal _information," Aquajet said, although he was sure that with Soundwave, he didn't really have anything in his processor that the telepath didn't already know. "Why am I here, anyway? So you can finish your studies on me and be done with it? And why take so long to capture me? And for greater concern, why the twins? Why take them, too? What good are they to you?" There was a pause, as if Soundwave was trying to think of an answer, before he finally spoke in his drone like voice.

"Experiments: not fully developed on Aquajet," he informed. "Answer: needs more done to be improved before I am fully finished. Capture of you: long and grueling, but inevitable. Just took longer to find you than expected. The twins: not expected to be taken, didn't think you could pick anyone up along your travels. Conclusion: you cooperate, and the twins will leave unharmed. Deal?"

Aquajet stared for a moment at the other mech, obviously not believing him. Soundwave had usually been good on his word before, if only because he was in his middle years and usually cooperated with him if they made a deal or truce or some sort. Not to say that he never wanted to even _be_ in that place in the first place, but Soundwave was lineate in the fact that if you listened to him and followed his orders, he would grant near any wish you had, minus getting to not being experimented and tested on at all. But still, could he really trust him? It had been a hunch that Soundwave was the reason - or at least part of it - as to why was unable to ever see Mindfreak again, and he had to admit that he hated the mech for that. [Hey, it wasn't as if he ever denied the fact, and he knew that Soundwave had possibly knew about that ever since Mindfreak left.]

So the real question was, could Soundwave be trusted to keep his word on not hurting the twins at all? All the scenarios of what might happen if he tried to escape reeled back into his processor, and he knew that either way, he probably didn't have a choice in the matter as to what was going to happen to him or the twins, at least until he found a way out [which was highly unlikely at the moment]. Guess there was only one option for him, wasn't there? Sighing, Aquajet merely shrugged his shoulders and looked towards his peds in quiet submission.

"Yeah, I guess so," he finally said, and he knew that Soundwave would record it so that he had Aquajet agreeing to this on tape in case he ever tried to rebel against it again.

"Choice: acknowledged," Soundwave droned out, and instantly turned to go further into the room, Aquajet instinctively turning and following in unison.

He hadn't realized how big the room was, but then again, Soundwave was more full of surprises than Aquajet would have liked. To put it simply, it looked like one of those fancy operation rooms at a really nice hospital, where if something goes wrong or they're performing surgery they take the patient in there with all the machines and what not. There _were _machines in this room, however Aquajet was sure that they weren't the same as the ones you would find on a hospital. Well, maybe, seeing as how it was Soundwave and all, but then again, you never knew.

"Order: on operation table," Soundwave ordered.

Albeit reluctantly, Aquajet pulled himself onto it, glad that he was finally for once tall enough to do so, or rather someone didn't have to force him onto it like they used to before he managed to escape. As he tried to lay down - his arm blades proved more than hard to manage now - he realized that where his waist, upper chassis, wrists and ankles were to be sat, were open pincher like objects that were obviously meant to be brought together and locked in order to keep him down.

"Hey, what're the cuffs for?" Aquajet asked, not exactly relaxing back onto the table to as he knew Soundwave wanted him to. Soundwave made a strange sound before turning from a table nearby, rather gently forcing Aquajet to lay down fully.

"Extra measures, in case you move while the anesthetics are in use," Soundwave droned out, taking his time to snap everything into place before turning to go back to the work station that he had.

'_Great,'_ Aquajet thought as he tried the restraints on his wrists. It was obvious that they weren't budging anytime soon. Thudding his helm back onto the table, he thought again, _'Great. Just __great__. Tied down to a table with no way to get out. How worse can this day get.'_ Oh, that was right.

It already had.


	23. Part Twenty Three

Warning: some fluff and gore and cursing ahead.

* * *

><p>To say that it hurt <em>far <em>worse than he could have ever imagined was actually quite an understatement, really. It was probably twenty or thirty times from _far _worse than he could have ever imagined, really. And that was saying a lot, seeing as how Aquajet had thought that he had built up a pain tolerance over the years. He had honestly thought that he had, too, now remembering how many times he woke up from stasis - forced or from having passed out - to find his frame aching and in so much pain he sometimes couldn't bared it. He thought he had, truthfully, although now he realized that he had not. And to say tha Soundwave seemed _less_ then helpful when Aquajet complained about his frame hurting was another understatement, too, of course. Soundwave could have probably cared less for how he felt after each and every time he went under the lighting, and Aquajet had learned long ago to simply quite complaining about it and get it over with. It made things go by faster, actually.

After going over some things, Soundwave had rather abruptly dismissed him to leave after taking the restraints off. Aquajet, wanting to be free of there, heading to the door quite quickly, however the door had opened before he could find a way to open it; the brutish mech from before blocking his exit, although this time without the first mech. The trip back, the brute was quite nicer, but then again, Aquajet was quieter and more or less in a hurry to get back to the twins than he was worrying about how to get how. The mech must have sensed that, for he even quickened his own pace to get back to the cell as well, making Aquajet quite grateful of him. He must have been a lot nicer whenever his companion was not around to make a fool out of whomever they were taking away. Upon arriving at the cell, the two having said nothing on the way back - of which Aquajet was rather grateful for; he was sure that having a conversation with _this_ wouldn't be too intelligent - the brute mech entered the pass code to open the cell door before stepping back, allowing Aquajet to make his own way in.

The room he was in must have been brighter than he had thought, as well as the hallways that he walked along; when he stepped inside the cell, he had to stop for a moment to let his optics adjust to the dark lighting within, the cell door slamming shut behind him. When he could finally see, he nearly panicked at the sight of no Raven or Blackbird; he rather hated their dark coloration, because it made it hard for him to sometimes find them when it was night time or simply dark out. A shout and ped falls made him relax as he knelt down a bit away from the cell door.

"Aquajet!" Raven cried, jumping into Aquajet's waiting arms. It surprised Aquajet, really; usually Blackbird was the first one to him whenever he was racing his brother, either Raven letting him win or him being faster. When Aquajet held out his other arm, expecting Blackbird to leap into it as his twin had done with his left arm, nothing - no shouting or whimpering, _anything_ - came, and instantly his spark skipped a beat.

"Blackbird?" Aquajet asked frantically, looking around the cell in hopes of seeing a sleeping young twin somewhere; injured would have been fine as long as he was okay and was able to explain himself. However, Raven holding himself flush against his guardian and nearly sobbing told the story of what might have happened to the youngest twin. "Raven, what happened to your brother?" Aquajet asked near frantically, still hoping that the worst was not yet to come."

"T-they t-took h-hi-him!" Raven cried, his voice near inaudible as he held his face plates against his guardian's chassis, now seeming unable to stop from crying as he spoke. "Th-they c-came in a…. a little w-while after you l-left," Raven tried to explain, sniffling. "T-they said that they…. Hiccup, that they w-wanted to g-g-go get use a c-ch-check up to - to make sure e-e-every thing was okay with us. W-we did what you told us to do Aquajet, honest! W-we stayed back in the corner like you said, but th-then they got angry, an-and a mech came back to t-try t' d-drag… *sniffle* drag us o-out, an' I t-tried to fight back but he hit me in the helm an' when I woke back up, B-Blackbird, he was gone! They-They must've -"

"Shhh," Aquajet instantly went to try to calm, seeing that Raven was going to start crying again, and even more so now because of what he was saying.

Instinctively Aquajet pulled the sparkling to where his helm rested on his shoulder, and for once Raven didn't care that he was being as he called babied; shifting to where his face was hidden in the nape of his guardian's neck, still nearly crying as he held tightly onto his guardian's neck wires. Not that Aquajet cared, of course; no, he was angry. He was more than angry, actually. He was fraggin' _pissed_! He could have guessed that they would have lied to him, but didn't they have any morals or anything? Taking a defenseless sparkling, for crying out loud! Doing something like that was _beyond_ wrong! Actually, it was _more_ than wrong! If he had a word for it, he would probably use it. He didn't know if they were telling the truth about the checkup, but if what Raven said was true, and they actually _had_ knocked him out, then they weren't. Aquajet had a terrible feeling in his fuel tanks, too. In a rage, Aquajet stood up and spun around, Raven pulling closer to his guardian as he did so. The brute mech from earlier had shifted to across the hall, watching Aquajet with a blank expression, as if a drone of some sort.

"Your friend said they wouldn't be touched if I cooperated," Aquajet growled, showing dentals as he did so. "Soundwave said they wouldn't! Well? Where is he?" The mech continued to watch with an unfazed expression, making Aquajet's anger only boil. "You demented_ fraggers_!" Aquajet cursed, unwrapping one arm from around Raven and lurching forward, hitting the bars as hard as he could with his blade as if that would help.

It didn't, of course. Rather, a shocking pain shot through his arm making him cry out and stumble backwards, his legs suddenly feeling weak. Raven whimpered even harder than before, looking to his guardian to make sure he was okay. Aquajet gritted his teeth at the pain as his arm went limp from the shock, instead taking notice to the mech staring at him, of whom now had an amused smirk on his face plates. Other than that, nothing else changed on him. Aquajet merely growled at the mech, however now thought it a waste of his time to try to attack him, instead turning and limping back to the far corner of the cell where he could at least have a little peace.

"Aquajet?" sniffled Raven as the mech turned and pressed his back against the wall, the coolness actually bringing comfort to his hurting frame.

"Yes?" the light colored mech grunted, slowly sliding down to a sitting position on the floor, knees up and nearly against his chassis if Raven weren't in the way. Said sparkling looking to the wall for a moment before pushing away from his guardian, nearly standing on his guardian's lap - or partial lap, at least - with his tiny servos on the larger chassis.

"I-I can't feel my brother through our bond," Raven said weakly, almost sounding as if he were about to cry again. "I-is that a good thing? Is he gonna be okay?"

Aquajet stared for a moment, optics squinting as he thought. This basically was Soundwave and his lackeys that they were talking about; it could mean anything. Sure, he was relativity great with him, because he did what he was said, but Soundwave had a sick mind. Primus _knows _what that mech would be thinking of doing to a mech like Blackbird, if anything at all. Sure, he kept to his word, but other times, when he thought that he had a great idea in his processor, he often lied to get his way, and sometimes didn't care if he hurt someone to get what he wanted. So to think of what he was planning on doing to Blackbird, if anything at all, was kind of hard in the first place.

"I… I honestly don't know," Aquajet said, failing at not trying to sound defeated, looking down to his lap, his working servo clenching in anger and remorse.

Raven could only fall back into the position he was in earlier, little legs bending to accommodate the strange position he was wanting to be in. Instantly Aquajet put his working arm around the oldest twin, and, when the other arm began to gain feeling again, although it hurt, he pulled the mechling in a full on embrace, something Raven would not have otherwise wanted from Aquajet at any other time in his young life. It was quite ironic, actually, now that he thought about it. Raven was rarely if ever the touchy feely twin of the two. Rather, he liked acting like the big and tough one all the time, even if only for his brother, even though it turned out that he was not. It kind of reminded Aquajet of himself. The only reason his resolve wasn't broken was because he was trying to show the twins that you shouldn't be scared, even if something bad happens. That, and of course, he was usually their rock to cry on if they got hurt or they were scared, although that was usually Blackbird that that happened to as of lately. He could remember first taking them in; they both had nightmares for weeks, although Raven asked for comfort from Aquajet less than Blackbird at first, although Blackbird eventually caved in after the first couple days. Aquajet knew how to keep a level helm, usually, and tried to calm them as best as he could, which was probably better than he ever imagined that he could do.

This was probably all of his fault. No, not the Soundwave going psycho and doing as Megatron asked. But rather, putting the mechlings through all of this. He was again starting to regret not finding them a place to stay when he had the chance. He knew that something like this was bound to happen, and honestly, it probably wouldn't have had if they weren't slowing him down. Not that he blamed either of them for this, of course. Rather, they would not have been there in the first place, so he wouldn't of have had to worry about them in the first place, and only his own hide like he was so used to doing before he rescued them. He made a mental promise to himself that when they got out of there - _if_ they ever got out of there - that he would try to find a place where they could stay that he wouldn't have to worry about them getting hurt like this. Sure, if Soundwave was turning them into something, he would be keeping an optic out for them as well, so it would be hard to find them a suitable place that would be able to keep them safe from a maniac called Soundwave.

The sound of footsteps caught Aquajet from his train of thought, instinctively pulling Raven closer as he growled and looked towards the cell door. Aquajet didn't know how much time had passed, although it must have been enough; the brute mech was gone, although he could tell by the shadow against the wall that held the cell and door that a new mech took his place, or he changed places. The footsteps only grew louder, and soon a familiar mech appeared in the closed off entrance of the cell.

"Missed me?" sneered the mech, however Aquajet only scowled as he weakly slid up the wall and onto his peds, using one arm to help him up while the other still held Raven rather close to him. "I thought so," the mech went on, stepping close to the cell door, obviously eyeing Aquajet for what he was worth, and possibly trying to see weather it was worth trying to get into the cell or not.

"Where is he?" Aquajet only growled, optics not leaving the other mech as he tried not to stumble forward, but rather walk forward - only a step, of course - towards the door. The other mech gave a jokeful innocent look to him.

"Why, what ever do you mean?" he asked. Yeah, this guy was overly trying Aquajet's patience. He _wanted_ him to kill him, didn't he?

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Aquajet said, his voice louder and the growl in his voice more prominate than before. The mech finally acted like he knew what he was saying and pulled an arm from behind his back that Aquajet hadn't realized he had.

"Oh, you mean _this_?" he asked, holding a rather passed out Blackbird by the scruff bar, hanging if as if he was a rag doll.

"You fragger, you promised!" Aquajet nearly roared, making a step towards the door. Raven had peeked out from his guardian's frame, and his blue optics were rather large as he whimpered, obviously caught between staying up against Aquajet or racing towards the cell door to get his brother. He sort of chose bother.

"B-Blackbird!" Raven cried, leaning a bit away from Aquajet's frame and reaching out, calling out his brother's designation again as if that would wake him up from his seemingly forced stasis. Sadly, it did not.

"Hm, well, he was a rather hard one to subdue once we had him," mused the mech as he looked over the sparkling, ignoring Aquajet's threatening growl. "Needless to say we _had _to knock him out in order to do the procedure and such. He's quite the crier, you know."

"You mech of a glitch, let him go!" Aquajet order rather threateningly, dentas bared. The mech merely looked him over for a moment, obviously amused.

"Fine, if you wish," he finally stated, and suddenly the cell doors rushed open. In one movement, the mech tossed the smaller twin into the cell, and it was possibly lucky that Aquajet managed to nearly dive to his knees and catch him, his knee plates scrapping against the rough ground. "Have a nice life, _losers_," the mech called as the cage door shut, turning and abruptly leaving before anything could be said.

Not that Aquajet _wanted_ to say anything of course. Rather, as he sat back on his rear, legs in front of him, he sat Blackbird - still passed out - onto his lap, Raven scattering to the ground before crawling to where he could be beside his brother, more tears forming in his optics as he looked over his currently passed out brother, biting his bottom lip as if trying not to cry in the first place. Placing two fingers against an area at the side of the resting mechling's neck, Aquajet relaxed; he could still feel a "pulse", which was a great thing indeed.

"Is he gonna be okay, AJ?" Raven asked worriedly. Although not looking at Aquajet, but rather at his brother, two little servos clutched around his brother's arm as if never wanting to let him go, AJ knew that the mechling wanted the right answer: yes.

Sighing in anger and content on having Blackbird back, Aquajet began looking over the mechling, all without making his twin move his hold on his brother's arm. He looked rather beat up, in a sense that he had been worked on the way Soundwave used to make him look as a sparkling. It might have been because their frames were too small to be worked on, but sometimes, whenever a sparkling or youngling underwent surgery or testing of any sort, their armor seemed to look odd for a while afterwards. Maybe it was because they were too small and only the highest paid and best surgeons had the best tools to work on sparklings or no one just paid any attention to sparklings while working on them, but Mindfreak said that he had saw many sparklings end up like that, not just him. There was some Energon that stained some of his frame on a minuscule level, but other than that and the banged up looking frame, he seemed fine. But then again, you never knew.

"I….. don't know, Raven," Aquajet said truthfully after looking over the mechling on his lap, instead placing a servo on his forehelm as if trying to tell himself that Blackbird would be alright. "I… We'll have to see when he wakes up." _If he wakes up._

Raven couldn't help but trying to choke down a cry, holding up his brother's arm and gently rubbing his own cheek against his brother's servo, as if looking for something to calm him down that wasn't there. Well, at least someone had hope.

Yup, this was gonna be a _long_ night.

* * *

><p>Poor Blackbird. Let's hope he gets better really quickly<p> 


End file.
